A legislative op-ed.
In a time where outbreaks of the fatal and disgusting E. coli bacteria are as common as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hold the salmonella, please, the District of Columbia and its 100 part-time residents, members of the 111th Senate of the United States of America, should be buckling down and trying to fix the food safety situation in our country that only seems to be getting worse.
The not-so-recently proposed (March of 2009) Senate Bill 510 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act is trying to do just that.
This long-talked-about bill, sponsored by Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), is an appropriate way for the government to more effectively deal with the recent outbreaks of food borne pathogens and illnesses that have, without a doubt, transpired because of the “big business” of food production.
According to the Center for Disease Control, more than 200 diseases are spread through food contamination. In the United States alone, more than 81 million cases of food-borne illnesses recorded each year and the poisonings are accountable for up to 9,000 deaths.
Senator Richard Durbin
Margaret A. Hamburg, commissioner of the Food and Drug Association, recently testified in Congress, about the seriousness of food-borne illnesses and urging support for current legislation.
As of October, 2006, 199 people were infected with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 that stemmed from fresh spinach and spinach products processed by Natural Selection foods. Out of the 199 patients, four perished.
It’s time to ensure that all food coming from FDA processors is healthy and safe. Senate Bill 510 hopes to do that.
If adopted, this bill will expand the jurisdiction of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, currently Kathleen Sebelius, and allow her and her staff to oversee many of the operations of the of the entire food industry.
Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services
The Secretary will begin to wear many more metaphorical hats. Her responsibilities will grow, allowing her to re-inspect any food facility that is deemed necessary, manage food recalls, and oversee the qualified importer program.
In addition to the Secretary’s new responsibilities, all food facilities will be required to assess all hazards and ensure that preventive controls are implemented in order to give the public the highest quality and safest food that it truly deserves.
The bill would require all FDA-controlled farms and factories to comply with the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, an FDA program that seeks assess and eliminate all physical, chemical, and biological hazards from the food production process before any problems can be acquired. Currently HACCP compliance is only mandatory for FDA juice facilities.
A chart from foodpoinsonprevention.com explaining the sources of food borne illnesses.
Under the bill, establishments would be required to conduct a hazard analysis, determining any food safety issues and identifying the preventive measures that can be put in place to safeguard against them. After the analysis is finished, critical control points in the manufacturing process where production can be stopped are to be established, and the levels of contamination necessary for a cease in production will be decided
Many individuals think that the new regulatory system is what the food industry needs in order to be safe.
Amy Sipes of John’s Custom Meats, a meat market in Smiths Grove, Ky. that seeks to get Kentucky residents to eat local meats, thinks that all of the added regulations make the bill much better for the populace.
“I don’t see that it’s as bad as some portray it to be. I like the increased regs for FDA. I think they needed it,” she said via Twitter, the micro-blogging tool.
“FDA food processing facilities do not get regularly inspected at a rate that can ensure food safety, whereas USDA facilities [are] inspected daily. Implementing HACCP through FDA’s jurisdiction is a good move.”
Sipes said that this bill would not affect her business.
Although this bill sounds just like what the proverbial doctor ordered, after diagnosing the food poisoning, the excessive paperwork and drafting and resubmission of many safety plans, including the frame-worked plan of a major commercial recall, might prove to be too complicated for some farms.
Judith McGeary is the executive director of one of the organizations opposing the bill, the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, based in Austin, Texas. FARFA seeks to give a voice to small, independent farmers while working closely with legislators that ensure that new policies are not skewed toward big business and give the smaller organizations the support that they need.
“As the bill is currently written, it would be very damaging to small farmers and feed producers who provide safe and healthy food,” she said, referencing the vast amount of new paperwork that would be required to verify the safety and contamination levels of their products.
“Small operations are the ones that are in the most danger from the bill,” McGeary said. “The bill composes regulatory paperwork and the small businesses get driven out.”
The smaller organizations should be held to the same standards of other operations, but without a room full of pencil-pushing bureaucrats, it can be challenging to crank out extensive amounts of paperwork for the Department of Health and Human Services every day.
McGeary said that FARFA would begin supporting the bill if the Tester Amendment, written by organic farmer, Sen. John Tester (D-Mont.)
The amendment states that any farm that grosses less than $500,000 annually would not be subjected to the same quantity of paperwork and meticulous record keeping that is currently required in the bill. The Tester version says these farms will be “limited to records regarding the immediate suppliers and immediate subsequent recipients of such facility.”
This provision would be extremely helpful for the farms that FARFA and McGeary worry about.
More than 100 major organizations and interest groups have signed a letter of intent and delivered it to Senate leadership, pledging to support the bill and cooperate fully if the Tester amendment is added to the existing legislation.
Another argument behind the Tester amendment is that local, small farm foods do not need food safety plans, because they are, in reality, healthier than most big business factory farms.
So, let me get this straight. We’ve got a good piece of legislation. An amendment that seems to make everyone happy. And there is a need for the bill, with new cases of E.coli popping up every day.
The House has already passed a similar bill, H.R. 875, The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. The Senate needs to act now.
People are contracting food-borne illnesses everyday while the Senate drags their feet on this major issue. The country should not have to go through more major recalls and outbreaks of deadly diseases any longer.
Barbara Kowalcyk : mediaparticipant.com
Barbara Kowalcyk is still waiting for action on food-safety legislation. Her son Kevin died in 2001 after eating a burger contaminated with E. coli while on vacation. “Kevin’s Law,” a food-safety bill named for her son, was first presented in 2005, but the meat industry has opposed it consistently.
Although S.510 will not directly oversee the processing of meat because it falls under USDA jurisdiction, it would be a step toward improving the safety of food distributed to the public.
We can only hope that S. 510 will pass, forcing the big business of food to be accountable for itself and the American people.
No one should have to suffer like the Kowalcyk family. Hopefully no one will again.
