by Catherine Ebeling, RN, BSN
The recent peanut butter and cookie dough contaminations are the latest evidence showing how broken our food system is. Under enormous pressure to do something about it, Congress has introduced several food safety bills that could start cleaning up the mess-or put sustainable farmers out of business. Clearly, it’s a hot topic, but the hope is that the [food safety] standards will apply only to those it fits-the big industrialized agribusiness companies that put processed foods on our grocery shelves.
A partial list of Health and Human Service’s recalled foods so far this summer include:
• Lewis Laboratories’ chocolate flavor nutrition drink
• C.F. Sauer gravies and sauce mixes
• Publix brand chocolate and vanilla whey protein
• Malt-o-Meal Maple & Brown sugar flavored cereal
• Three types of seasonings from Kroger
You can try to ignore outbreaks of E.coli in our cookie dough, and masses of kids and grown ups who are overweight or obese and extremely unhealthy, but the fact is, this whole scenario is connected.
Perhaps the massive profit driven food companies are partially or wholly responsible for this diet and health disaster-in-the-making by using tricks of the trade to enhance color, texture and taste of the carb and starch laden foods.
As people learn more about the food supply chain and where their food comes from, there is a growing grass-roots enthusiasm for purchasing food that is locally grown on small sustainable farms that use natural methods. A wide variety of people are drawn to this movement because the reasons to support it are numerous: reduced impact on surrounding land and water due to pesticide use and fertilizer runoff, improved quality of life for farm animals, health benefits of grass-fed versus grain fed meat due to Omega-3 fat content, avoidance of genetically modified or transgenic food products, higher energy efficiency of the farming and transporting processes, the use of fewer chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics, more efficient use of water that is less taxing on aquifers (when drip irrigation and plastic ground cover is used), and higher nutrient content of naturally grown vegetables. Another benefit of sustainable farming methods is that they avoid many of the food safety pitfalls that currently need to be addressed.
Given the virtues of the alternative food movement, one would hope to see growth in this sector of the food economy. It is upsetting, then, that current and proposed government policies,
including the criminalization of raw milk, the USDA’s National Animal Identification System, and House Resolutions 759, 814, and 875, are a huge impediment to small-scale producers and sellers, threaten their economic viability, and provide a disincentive for entrepreneurs to start their own small farms. We may be in the process of stacking the deck against the farming and distribution methods that avoid many of the problems inherent in our large-scale system of corporate food processing with GMOs galore.
Of the 6 food safety bills that were recently introduced, H.R. 875 (the Food Safety Modernization Act) introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), is getting the most attention. It calls for the splitting of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) into two agencies-one for monitoring food safety and another for overseeing drugs and medical devices. The bill also stipulates that imported food would have to meet the same standards as food produced in the U.S.
As the legislative process moves forward, it’s important for consumers to scrutinize the proposed guidelines to make sure they don’t place impossible burdens on small, organic, and sustainable farmers, and cut back our best source of whole, healthy, unadulterated food.
Under the guise of food safety, HR 875, HR 814, HR 759, S 425, and S 510 will place unfair regulation on small farms, a key source of locally produced food for those people who don’t have the time or room to have a backyard garden. Small farms and the local food movement are not part of the food safety problem in this country; they are part of the solution and should be left alone.
We understand the pressure that Congress faces to improve the safety of food produced by the mass-production industrialized system. But it is critical that the laws not interfere with the right to choose local foods or with our smaller farmers’ ability to raise safer, healthier foods. Small sustainable farms are fundamentally different from factory farms, and should not be regulated the same way.
This issue cannot be left to the agencies’ discretion. Their focus must be on the long term health of U.S. consumers and not the profits of Monsanto and Dow Chemical and they push for the demise of sustainable agriculture.
All of the proposed food safety bills suffer from a “one-size-fits-all” approach. And even though the bills’ sponsors might intend for them to apply only to food crossing state lines, the federal agencies regularly take a broader view of their jurisdiction. The FDA’s and USDA’s past actions clearly show that Congress must place strict limitations on these agencies, or they will impose burdensome and unfair regulations and enforcement actions on these small farms, putting many out of business.
When it comes to regulation, one size does not fit all-and in farming, it’s almost always tailored to the needs of the largest industrialized operations. It’s clear that food safety reform is needed, and we think that having that on the agenda of Congress is a good thing. What worries the organic community is that new rules will be good for huge agribusiness, but not for the diversified small farmers who grow and raise a little bit of everything without the modern wonders of GMO and heavy usage of pesticide and herbicides.
If HR 875 and 2749 pass, it could eventually mean losing some of the smaller, organic, farm options, and reducing the consumer’s ability to make decisions on who and where to buy from, and put a serious dent in some of the good things that are happening at the grass-roots level of the food world today.
Endangered by these bills are the local farmers’ markets, Community Supported Agriculture, and programs like the Farm to Cafeteria initiative, which brings fresh produce to cafeterias. Supplying cafeterias with local organic food isn’t fancy; it’s actually cheaper than skipping lunch, in the long run. The big picture is that your tax dollars won’t subsidize the petroleum that keep factories surging, trucks transporting our produce across the country, and our health insurance bills that are skyrocketing.
Everyone who is concerned about their access to local, sustainable foods should call on their U.S. Representatives and Senators to support a food safety bill that focuses on the real threats to food safety, such as uninspected imports from China and lax inspections of massive slaughterhouses and other factory processing, and the obesity epidemic sweeping the land driven by processed commercial foods.
Two of the other major bills (S. 425 and H.R. 814) focus on food traceability. The latter would in effect make the current voluntary and controversial National Animal Identification System mandatory, forcing smaller farmers to microchip each and every one of their animals within 48 hours and buy expensive tracking devices. This government intervention is extremely unpopular among small farmers, and would be incredibly time-consuming and expensive as well.
The other 3 bills focus on food safety issues, too, but they don’t go as far as the Food Safety Modernization Act in calling for the FDA to break up into two pieces.
It’s your food, and through the democratic process, you have a say in how it’s regulated. Stay in touch with your reps. It’s unlikely any of these bills will be rushed through Congress. Let them know you want a more sound food system, but one that won’t drive out organic producers, who are already taking many steps to bring you safer food.
“We are asking Congress, and suggesting stakeholders in the organic community and local-food movement petition Congress, to make sure the needed regulation is on corporate agribusiness,” says Mark Kastel, cofounder of the Cornucopia Institute, a small farmers advocacy group. “Small, high-quality food producers are already at a competitive disadvantage,” he adds. “They’re part of the solution, and it would be shame for them to be threatened under new regulations.”
You can join the voices calling for fairness by contacting your senator or congressperson. Enter each bill’s number at Thomas.gov to track its progress and get in touch with its sponsors.
Health problems are rampant today and the majority of them are diet-related. Besides the fact that we aren’t eating diversified foods anymore, the FDA’s new plans to protect factory farms will ensure that we continue to eat a fairly homogenized diet of refined sugars, corn-based starches, and hydrogenated oils from big agribusiness companies.
Over the course of history, humans have consumed over 80,000 plant species. That number is now closer to eight species, with a continuous honing in on genetically modified corn, soy and canola.
In 2007, only six companies controlled 98 percent of the world’s seed sales (Monsanto, Syngenta, DuPont, Mitsui, Aventis, and Dow), and they continue to change the food landscape and today’s farm. Is it possible that some of these agribusiness giants are behind this bill? Clever rules could force the American public into thinking the grocery store is the only place to buy safe food. Nothing could be further from the truth, but our freedom to choose may soon be a distant memory.
Government regulations will soon favor genetically modified (or GMO) seeds over organic seeds, and organic seeds and heritage plants might eventually become a thing of the past.
We don’t need to add any more poison to our foods: pesticides, preservatives and radiation to make our food supposedly safer.
We need to do is take a good, hard look at what the term “Food Safety” means.
The real story here is real honest food that nourishes our bodies, not putting more money into agribusiness’ pockets and the ruination of our health; the deeper story is our respect for human life, our livestock, and our earth.
Remember . . . you are what you eat.
Sources:
Megan Nix, http://www.denverpost.com/perspective/ci_12856620, The high cost of cheap food, 07/19/2009 (www.megannix.com) of Denver is an editor at DiningOut Magazine and can be reached at thenixionary@gmail.com.
Zerbe, Leah, “Food Safety Bills Could Hurt Organic Farmers; Reforms to our food system are needed, but not at the expense of sustainable agriculture”. Rodale News 03-20-09.
Huntress, Mark, New food safety regulations must protect interests of small sustainable farms, The Free Press: Speaking Truth to Power, 07-22-09.
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July 29, 2009 at 8:23 am
World of Science
Recently i read that 45% of European agricultural products contains residues of pesticide…