Local Food Columbus » Entries tagged with "food safety"
Good News for the Local Food Movement
Good News for the Local and Regional Food Movement President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act today, after a long bout of legislative wrangling by local food advocates, small farmers and their allies for food safety rules that protect consumers without curbing the growing movement toward fresh, local and regional food. The food safety bill passed by the House in July of 2009 would have imposed a one size fits all regulatory system biased toward industrial agriculture with a regressive registration fee, expensive food safety plans, and regular on-farm FDA inspections regardless of the degree of the potential risk for food borne illness. The new regulatory burdens threatened to erect formidable barriers to the developing local and regional markets for … Read entire article »
Filed under: Farmer's Markets, Local Food Processing, National, News, Policy and Regulation
Food Safety Bill Passes, Now Goes to President Obama
Earlier today the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2751 The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act with 215 voting for and 144 against. Ten Republicans voted for the bill (see Final Vote). This is the bill that the Senate passed by voice vote on Sunday, December 19th, with the Tester-Hagan amendment protecting small farms intact. The food safety bill hit a roadblock after passing the Senate in late November because a provision requiring the collection of user fees violated the Constitutional mandate that all revenue-generating measures must originate in the House. House leaders then attached the bill as an amendment to two separate spending bills, neither of which were able to gain Republican support in the Senate. Senate … Read entire article »
Filed under: Farmer's Markets, Local Food Processing, National, News, Policy and Regulation
Ohio Farmers’ Market Conference
Ohio’s first conference for farmers market managers and vendors will be held March 4-5 at the Ohio Department of Agriculture in Reynoldsburg. The two-day conference will be packed with presentations, displays and networking opportunities and is geared toward farmers market managers, vendors, and community development stakeholders who want to start or grow farmers’ markets in their local communities. Topics to be covered include food safety, market funding opportunities, direct marketing, and more. Opportunities to network also will be available, which will give participants the chance to discuss ideas with other farmers market professionals. The Statewide Farmers Market Conference is a collaborative effort of Ohio State University South Centers, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the Farmers Market Management Network (FMMN) and the Farmers’ Market Coalition. The conference will begin with registration at 8:30 a.m., March … Read entire article »
Filed under: Farmer's Markets, News
Confusion Over Issue 2
Saturday at the Clintonville Farmers’ Market, one of my customers said she was surprised to see so many yard signs in Clintonville in support of Issue 2. She reached the same conclusion I did: most of these people have probably fallen prey to the misleading advertisements in support of Issue 2. I’d like to clear up some of the confusion by responding to some of the talking points I’ve heard from supporters. Issue 2 would establish a Livestock Care Standards Board. It’s about time we had some standards for livestock care! Do you know what horrible things they do to animals on those factory farms? That’s just the point. It’s those factory farms that want Issue 2 to pass. They’ve seen voters in California and elsewhere outlaw the use of battery cages … Read entire article »
Filed under: News, Policy and Regulation
Waxman Food Safety Bill Introduced
On Wednesday, May 27, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (CA-30) released a discussion draft of his food safety bill, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009. The bill is largely based on provisions in H.R. 259, the Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009, introduced by Representative Dingell earlier this year. House Energy and Commerce Committee staff has said they plan to mark up the Waxman food safety bill and report it out of Committee during the month of June and prior to the July 4 congressional recess. Read the draft bill. We will comment on this bill after analysis. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Local Food Processing, Policy and Regulation
Legislative Update – Federal Food Safety Bills
The following is an excerpt from a post in The Ethicurean. H.R. 875 is not likely to make it out of committee. The article points out a couple of other bills that are likely to get more traction and have scarier ramifications for small farmers and producers. Make sure you read the excellent position statement and information by Main Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Food safety is all the rage this year in Congress, and rightfully so: between tainted jalapenos, spinach, peanuts, and pistachios, the food supply needs some major help. Everyone seems at the ready with their own version of the solution. But as I feared in a previous post on produce safety, many of the proposed solutions are expensive, technologically complex, and may not actually work. Perhaps the worst of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Policy and Regulation
H.R. 875 and the Food Safety Bills
The analysis below clarifies what the bill will and will not do. Mentioned is HR.759 which can cause some issues for small farmers including recordkeeping requirements for farms and safety standards for fresh produce. Link to HR.759 PDF Link to HR.875 PDF Food & Water Watch’ s Statement on H.R. 875 and the Food Safety Bills The dilemma of how to regulate food safety in a way that prevents problems caused by industrialized agriculture but doesn’t wipe out small diversified farms is not new and is not easily solved. And as almost constant food safety problems reveal the dirty truth about the way much of our food is produced, processed and distributed, it’s a dilemma we need to have serious discussion about. Most consumers never thought they had to worry about peanut butter and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Local Food Processing, New Farmers, Policy and Regulation
