Page 80 - Fall2013

Legislative Updates

CONGRESS FLEXES NEW MUSCLES,
WHILE BECOMING MIRED IN FARM BILL DEBATES
By Judith McGeary, Esq.

When Congress passed the Food Safety so. It’s also vital that anyone concerned with the
Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2010, it gave the survival of sustainable agriculture and the local
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) significant food movement should contact their legislators―
new powers. For a couple of years, the agency both before and after the comment deadline―to
did very little with its new authority. But now the urge Congress to limit the agency’s power.
FDA has proposed rules that fulfill some of the
worst predictions of what the agency might do. THe TeSTeR-HAgAn exeMPTIOn
The proposed rules address two key provi- When Congress passed the FSMA, it in-
sions of the FSMA: cluded a very important provision―championed
by Senators Jon Tester (D-MT) and Kay Hagan
• On-Farm Produce Standards Rule: Creates (D-NC)―to exempt small-scale, direct market-
requirements for every aspect of growing ing producers from the on-farm produce stan-
and harvesting fruits, vegetables and nuts. dards and HARPC requirements. Specifically,
• HARPC Rule: Requires businesses (includ- farmers or food producers who sell less than
ing farms) that pack, store, or process foods five hundred thousand dollars per year, and who
to do hazard analysis and risk-based preven- sell more than half of their products directly to
tative control (HARPC) plans. individual consumers or to local restaurants and
retailers, are exempted from the produce safety

Judith McGeary These two provisions are explained in and HARPC rules.
is the Austin, Texas greater detail below. This exemption is vital to the survival of
chapter leader, an The ultimate effect of these rules will be to the local foods movement. Unfortunately, in the
attorney and reduce the safety of our food supply by increasing final negotiations on the Tester-Hagan amend-
small farmer in our reliance on foreign food sources. The U.S. ment, Congress included a provision that allows
Austin, and the already imports about 15 percent of our food the FDA to revoke the exemption under certain
executive director of supply, including nearly 50 percent of fresh fruit conditions. The revocation must be done on a
the Farm and Ranch and 20 percent of fresh vegetables. Less than 1 case-by-case basis; in other words, the FDA can
Freedom Alliance. percent of this imported food is inspected by the revoke the exemption on Farm A, but cannot
She has a B.S. in
biology from FDA, and the agency itself says that it doesn’t revoke the exemption on all the farms in the
Stanford University have the capacity to inspect more than 2 percent. country or in a state.
and a J.D. from the This problem is supposedly being addressed Although limited to targeting individual
University of Texas through new requirements for importer verifica- farms, the FDA’s proposed rules implementing
at Austin. She and tion, so that the foreign suppliers will be held to this provision are deeply worrisome because
her husband the same standard as domestic. But whatever is FDA claims authority to revoke a farmer’s or
run a small written on paper, it is certain that food coming processor’s Tester-Hagan exemption based al-
grass-based farm
with sheep, cattle, from places such as China and South America most entirely on the official’s discretion. If an
horses, and poultry. will not actually be held to the same standards FDA official decides that a farm or processor is
For more as will be imposed on U.S. producers. connected to a foodborne illness outbreak or that
information go to It’s important to realize that these are only revocation is “necessary” to “protect the public
www.farmandranch- proposed rules. Nothing is final yet. Farmers and health and prevent or mitigate a foodborne illness
freedom.org or consumers have until November 15, 2013 to file outbreak based on conduct or conditions associ-
call (254) 697-2661. comments with the agency, and it is critical to do ated” with the farm or processor, the official can
78 Wise Traditions FALL 2013 FALL 2013 Wise Traditions

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