Page 81 - Fall2010

Legislative Updates

CHAMELEON POLITICS
By Judith McGeary, Esq.

It seems every time a bad bill or Agri- And never mind the fact that FDA already
Business program stalls, it just changes colors has authority to inspect facilities like this and
like a chameleon, and comes back. The fight simply chose not to, despite a history of environ-
against S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization mental violations by this precise farm. Instead the
Act, had been going well. More and more people agency chose to spend its resources (and taxpayer
were speaking up in support of common-sense dollars) on things such as pursuing raw milk
changes to the bill, including the Tester-Hagan and an armed raid on the Rawsome food club in
amendments to exempt local, small-scale pro- Venice, California.
ducers and the Feinstein amendment to ban The only difference S.510 might have made
Bisphenyl A from food containers. to the salmonella outbreak would have been to
For months, the bill sponsors had been give FDA mandatory recall authority, rather than
negotiating with Senators Tester and Feinstein relying on a voluntary recall. Yet there is no hint
to reach a compromise that would incorporate that the Wright County company refused or even
some version of their amendments. And then, delayed in issuing the voluntary recall. More
suddenly, the bill sponsors released a “Manager’s fundamentally, this latest salmonella outbreak
Package” of the bill on August 13, 2010. The is merely a symptom of a much larger problem:
Manager’s Package is a revised version of the the consolidation of our food supply in the hands
bill that replaces the version passed by the Com- of a few large companies. An outbreak this large Judith McGeary
mittee, and it’s what the full Senate will vote on. could not have occurred in a local and regional- is an attorney and
Neither the Tester nor the Feinstein amendments ized food system. small farmer in
were included in the Manager’s Package, even Rather than solving the problem, S.510 will Austin, Texas,
and the
though we were told that negotiations continued. strengthen the forces that have led to this danger- Executive Director of
So why choose to release it before an agree- ous consolidation of our food supply. S.510 gives the Farm and Ranch
ment was reached? It may be that the staffers FDA vast new powers to regulate food producers, Freedom Alliance.
simply wanted to get home for the August recess. from telling farmers how to grow vegetables She has a B.S. in
But, on the same day that the Manager’s Package to requiring every jam maker to comply with Biology from
was released, a massive factory farm in Wright extensive paperwork requirements. The bill also Stanford University
County, Iowa began a nationwide recall of its includes a provision that facilities must pay for and a J.D. from the
eggs. As the recall grew to almost half a billion their own re-inspection, creating a financial in- University of Texas
at Austin. She and
eggs, and the news hit the mainstream press, centive for FDA to perform repeat inspections of her husband
FDA and groups claiming to speak for consumers facilities to raise money or to financially penalize run a small
told every media outlet that the egg recall proved a producer the agency doesn’t like. grass-based farm
that the Senate should pass S.510 as quickly as While damaging small producers, S.510 with sheep, cattle,
possible. does not address the causes of the food safety horses, and heritage
Never mind the fact that FDA has already problems. The bill calls for increased inspections breed poultry.
adopted, under its existing statutory authority, and extensive paperwork, but it dodges the issue For more
regulations to reduce the incidence of salmo- of the source of the bacterial contamination: ma- information about
NAIS and what
nella in eggs. President Clinton had directed the nure, particularly manure from grain-fed cattle you can do to
agency to work on the issue back in 1999, but and intensive confined animal feeding operations stop it, go to
the agency did not adopt rules until 2009. These (CAFOs). The FDA inspection of the chicken www.farmandranch-
regulations went into effect in July 2010—with- facilities that caused the salmonella outbreak freedom.org or
out S.510. (belatedly conducted after the recall) revealed call (254) 697-2661.

FALL 2010 Wise Traditions 81