11-09-2009, 01:20 PM
808Blogger, the myths about the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 have already been discussed and shown to be false.
First, it deals with the FDA's authority. Local organic and farmers markets are covered under USDA, which this bill does not interfere with. This has already been publicly acknowledged and clarified by many local organic farming groups. Its purpose is commercial operations on a regional or national level, not "local". Nothing in the bill authorizes the FDA to get involved in local markets where the produce and products are kept within the local market and not sold to commercial processors. So all claims this will hinder or criminalize local organic farmers and produce is false.
Second, nothing in the bill addresses individual personal consumption farming (to include the giving away of one's own produce to friends and family) by individuals and families. It is absolutely false that this Act will in anyway be applied to your own garden.
The Act does not cover your farm animals you consume, or any game caught for personal use. It only deals with products that can end up in a distribution chain. So unless you’re selling your farm animals or hunted game to Hormel, a restaurant or a butcher shop, the Act would not apply to you.
Food production facility is a bit confusing but once people realized that the authority was to the FDA, they understood what food processing facility meant and whom it applies to. So baking some bread for sale at a farmers market is not covered by the Act unless you’re selling it for distribution.
This got blown out of proportion and (admittedly understandably) cause so much misinformation simply because the average person had absolutely no idea (and didn’t connect the dots properly)of the role of the FDA versus the USDA. So they assumed that the ACT was addressing everything based on the words of the Act not realizing that the FDA does not regulate all food issues.
Bottom line, this Act will have no negative impact on locally produced produce sold locally for individual personal consumption. If sold to a restaurant, the restaurant will need to keep records of what was purchased and from whom. Same goes if you sell to a commercial market, which sells to others, or if you sell a product and it’s going into a regional or national distribution or production. This is so that in the event of some illness, a backtrack can occur. Odds are local people or tourist who get sick will remember buying something at a farmers market, but if it's blended with produce from all over the US and distributed all over, those people have no idea where it came from so hence the Act.
First, it deals with the FDA's authority. Local organic and farmers markets are covered under USDA, which this bill does not interfere with. This has already been publicly acknowledged and clarified by many local organic farming groups. Its purpose is commercial operations on a regional or national level, not "local". Nothing in the bill authorizes the FDA to get involved in local markets where the produce and products are kept within the local market and not sold to commercial processors. So all claims this will hinder or criminalize local organic farmers and produce is false.
Second, nothing in the bill addresses individual personal consumption farming (to include the giving away of one's own produce to friends and family) by individuals and families. It is absolutely false that this Act will in anyway be applied to your own garden.
The Act does not cover your farm animals you consume, or any game caught for personal use. It only deals with products that can end up in a distribution chain. So unless you’re selling your farm animals or hunted game to Hormel, a restaurant or a butcher shop, the Act would not apply to you.
Food production facility is a bit confusing but once people realized that the authority was to the FDA, they understood what food processing facility meant and whom it applies to. So baking some bread for sale at a farmers market is not covered by the Act unless you’re selling it for distribution.
This got blown out of proportion and (admittedly understandably) cause so much misinformation simply because the average person had absolutely no idea (and didn’t connect the dots properly)of the role of the FDA versus the USDA. So they assumed that the ACT was addressing everything based on the words of the Act not realizing that the FDA does not regulate all food issues.
Bottom line, this Act will have no negative impact on locally produced produce sold locally for individual personal consumption. If sold to a restaurant, the restaurant will need to keep records of what was purchased and from whom. Same goes if you sell to a commercial market, which sells to others, or if you sell a product and it’s going into a regional or national distribution or production. This is so that in the event of some illness, a backtrack can occur. Odds are local people or tourist who get sick will remember buying something at a farmers market, but if it's blended with produce from all over the US and distributed all over, those people have no idea where it came from so hence the Act.