By Jon H. Harsch
© Copyright Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.
Washington, April 14 – One sign of intense interest in and likely swift passage of the Senate’s Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510) is that senators and interest groups are lining up to ask for last-minute changes. In a press conference Wednesday, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) announced that to resolve “unique issues that face family food producers,” he is offering two amendments “to exempt small-scale businesses from expensive federal regulations and red tape.”
With the bill expected to be taken up by the full Senate next week, the bipartisan bill’s sponsors have issued reassurances that the bill already contains provisions which will ensure that small-scale businesses will not be subjected to “expensive federal regulations and red tape.” A fact sheet on the bill includes these specific promises:
No Change
in Agency for Regulated Foods No Change
in Definition of Facility Flexibility
for Small Businesses Produce
Safety Standards Training Traceability Regulatory
Flexibility for Organic Foods Farmers
Markets, Cottage Industries and Direct Farm-to-Market Sales
Only
foods already regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be
affected, maintaining the existing firewall between FDA and USDA regulated
foods and agricultural products.
Under
the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, certain food businesses were considered “facilities”
and had to register with FDA. Farms and restaurants were exempted. If an entity
does not need to register now, it will not need to register under S. 510.
Small
businesses are given regulatory flexibility throughout S. 510. Small processors
are given additional time to comply with new food safety practices and
guidelines created by the bill.
The
legislation gives FDA the authority, working with USDA, to develop
science-based standards for the safe production and harvesting of fruits and
vegetables. Priority is given to specific fruits and vegetables with the
highest risk of causing foodborne illness. Flexibility is given for different
growing, production, and harvesting techniques.
The
bill requires FDA to coordinate with the extension activities of USDA’s
National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) in educating growers and
small processors about any new required practices.
To
trace back potentially unsafe food in the event of a foodborne illness
outbreak, farms and small businesses that are not food facilities may satisfy
traceability requirements with records kept in “the normal course of business.”
The
bill gives consideration to “the unique agricultural practices and requirements
of organic foods.”
Small
entities that produce food for their own consumption or market directly to
consumers, or restaurants are not subject to registration or new recordkeeping
requirements. This exemption covers food sold through farmers’ markets, bake
sales, public events and organizational fundraisers.
Despite
such reassurances, Senator Tester said Wednesday that “dangerous food-borne
outbreaks don’t start with family agriculture. Food produced on that scale
shouldn’t be subject to the same expensive federal regulations as some big
factory that mass produces food for the entire country.” Tester maintains that
the bill would add a new layer of regulation to even the smallest food
producers and that “The same rules that would apply to large, corporate food
companies would also apply to family food producers across
According to Tester, “When you buy some vegetables or a jar of jam from your local farmers’ market, you’re buying the cleanest, freshest, healthiest food available, directly from the producer. Family farms and ranches have enough hurdles to jump over just trying to make a living. They don’t need expensive, redundant regulation that could put them out of business.”
Tester’s two amendments are intended to make sure the following food producers will only be subject to state and local regulation, “not to new expensive federal regulations designed for industrial food factories”:
· “Producers that add value to food through processing and whose adjusted gross income is less than $500,000 per year;”
· “Producers who sell their food directly to market (such as farmers’ markets).”
Tester said he welcomes the goals of the overall bill, but warns against over-regulation of small, local producers.
To read the text of Tester’s two amendments, go to: http://tester.senate.gov/Legislation/upload/tester_small_facilities_amendment.pdf and http://tester.senate.gov/Legislation/upload/tester_direct_market_amendment.pdf
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