(Cross-posted at Growing the Garden)
You may have heard the scare stories about the bill before Congress: HR 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act. I came across a good post at the Secret Farm blog, Secret Farm: A garden blog: HR 875 the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009
As many of you out there are aware by now, there is a bill that has been introduced to Congress called HR 875 Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 . I have seen a number of twitters and blog posts about it, as well as articles and discussions. I was all set to write a very different post about this issue until I came across this post at Crooks and Liars.com in my search:
http://crooksandliars.com/nonny-mouse/monsanto-and-hr-875-take-two
Read the post at Secret Farm.
So I followed the link to Crooks & Liars for more information. From the post there:
To set the record straight:
There is no language in HR 875 that would regulate, penalize, or shut down backyard gardens or 'criminalize' gardeners; the bill focuses on ensuring the safety of food in interstate commerce.
Farmer's markets would not be regulated, fined, or shut down, and would, in fact, benefit from strict safety standards applied to imported food to ensure that unsafe imported food doesn't compete with locally grown produce.
The bill would not prohibit or interfere with organic farming, or mandate the use of any chemicals or types of seeds. The National Organic Program (NOP) is under the jurisdiction of the USDA. HR 875 addresses food safety issues and falls under the jurisdiction of the FDA.
Monsanto and any other large agribusiness company had no part whatsoever in drafting this bill, and Rep. DeLauro's husband and his company do no lobbying on this issue.
Food and Water Watch, Background on H.R. 875
Here are a few things that H.R. 875 does NOT do:
* It does not cover foods regulated by the USDA (beef, pork, poultry, lamb, catfish.)
* It does not establish a mandatory animal identification system.
* It does not regulate backyard gardens.
* It does not regulate seed.
* It does not call for new regulations for farmers markets or direct marketing arrangements.
* It does not apply to food that does not enter interstate commerce (food that is sold across state lines).
* It does not mandate any specific type of traceability for FDA-regulated foods (the bill does instruct a new food safety agency to improve traceability of foods, but specifically says that recordkeeping can be done electronically or on paper).
The Slow Food USA Blog, in H.R. 875 links to a few trusted sources saying this bill does not do the scary things that the emails and blogs claim.
So don't be afraid. Don't be very afraid.
(Original is at Growing the Garden)