Food Safety Matters

We try not to be too politically charged, or preachy about what we believe when it comes to farming practices or life in general.  Everyone should be able to choose for themselves what they consider right.  However, the government is taking one of its most significant moves since 1938 in changing regulations about food safety.  Many measures are welcome, but anytime the government tries to make one thing better, its impact is felt in many ways beyond the intended target.  If you are shopping at farmers markets, local food hubs, or CSA’s on a regular basis, we’re guessing you care about these issues, too.

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was passed into law in January of this year.  This new law is the culmination of congressional efforts to give FDA greater authority and guidelines to improve food safety for consumers in the US.  It has many measures that seem likely to help improve safety for food produced in mass production facilities and factory farms, food shipped across the country and from outside the US.  Currently, the FDA is seeking comments to help them create the actual regulations that interpret the new law and administer the new safety measures.  The comment period is open through November 15.

If you aren’t aware of the FSMA or have thought it is just another government law and regulation that doesn’t necessarily impact you, you should at least check out some of the high level summaries about the new regulations.  While this law has many positive points, it does not do very well in defining how the application of the law will differ between giant conglomerate farms and food producers and the much smaller market farms, local food hubs, farmers markets, and CSA’s that have become the backbone of the local food movement.  It also has been criticized for its stance on conservation and diversified farming.

The FDA needs to hear from consumers and small farmers to help them understand that the little guys matter, too, and that they truly do need to follow with the intent of Congress in providing different rules for small farms and processors compared with much larger ones.  Congress built in exemptions from several requirements, or reduced requirements depending on business size and nature of business, but it is up to the FDA to define the details.

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has done a beautiful job of writing up several of the issues of key concern to small farmers and processors and the consumers that support those groups.  There is no sensationalism to the information, it is clearly written, and they provide links to additional information direct from the FDA.  After reading up on several of the issues, we decided their links to government information were especially useful because it was virtually impossible to find a lot of the information through a simple search engine effort.

If you have read this far and check out the NSAC or other resource’s write-up, we hope you will take the time to submit comments to the FDA or sign NSAC’s petition.  NSAC provides detailed guidance on what a good comment looks like and how to submit comments.  You can submit them electronically or by mail.

We apologize for this more political sounding post and will follow-up soon with something more light-hearted.