ACTION – HR 2749
New Food Bill Couches
Corporate Shelters in
“Safety”
Bill HR2749
Background Information – Bad bill: Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009.
HR 2749 gives FDA tremendous power while significantly diminishing existing judicial restraints on actions taken by the agency. The bill would impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme on small farms and local artisanal producers; and it would disproportionately impact their operations for the worse. This bill has been passed in the House and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Please contact your Senator/ the Health Committee to ensure that their version has stronger language to protect small producers from a regressive fee structure and burdensome tracking requirements, and organic producers from conflict with National Organic Program regulations designed conserve wildlife habitat. Immediate action is necessary to stop this harmful legislation!
HR 2749 does not address underlying causes of food safety problems such as industrial agriculture practices and the consolidation of our food supply. The industrial food system and food imports are badly in need of effective regulation, but the bill does not specifically direct regulation or resources to these areas.
To read a detailed account of the bill, go to: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2749
Alarming Provisions:
* HR 2749 would impose an annual registration fee of $500 on any “facility” that holds, processes, or manufactures food. Although “farms” are exempt, the agency has defined “farm” narrowly. And people making foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, cheeses, or breads would be required to register and pay the fee, which could drive beginning and small producers out of business during difficult economic times.
* HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested, placing the federal government onto the farm, dictating to our farmers.
* HR 2749 would give FDA the power to order a quarantine of a geographic area, including “prohibiting or restricting the movement of food or of any vehicle being used or that has been used to transport or hold such food within the geographic area.” Under this provision, farmers markets and local food sources could be shut down, even if they are not the source of the contamination. The agency can halt all movement of all food in a geographic area.
* HR 2749 creates severe criminal and civil penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation for individuals.
Action to Take:
Contact your Senator now! Ask to speak with the staffer who handles food issues. Tell them you are opposed to the bill. Some points to make in telling your Senator why you oppose HR 2749/ the Food Safety Enhancement Act include:
1. The bill imposes burdensome requirements while not specifically targeting the industrial food system and food imports, where the real food safety problems lie.
2. Small farms and local food processors are part of the solution to food safety; lessening the regulatory burden on them will improve food safety.
3. The bill gives FDA much more power than it has had in the past while making the agency less accountable for its actions.
HR 2749 needs to be defeated!! Please take action NOW.
* from FTDLCF.org
Track Bill Status
The status of the bill can be tracked on the internet by entering “HR 2749″ in the Search field http://www.thomas.gov/ ; be sure to select “Bill Number” instead of “Word/Phrase”.
Click here to contact members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Each member has an electronic mail webpage as well as a personal homepage.
Click here to contact other Members of Congress; search by state to locate your Representative.
To stay informed about this and other issues that Directly affects farmers and consumers by signing up for the Farm-to-Consumer action newsletter here.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Please call Alan Grayson’s office!
Alan was absent from the vote last week on H.R. 2749
A handful of votes could have made all the difference here and the representative for our district was absent.
I saw Congressman Grayson last Friday at the Campaign for Liberty event featuring Ron Paul as the guest speaker. When exiting the event, Emily and I spoke with Alan and asked about his absence from the vote. He knew exactly what I was talking about and explained he was at the White House visiting with the president at the time of vote. Pretty good excuse, but our access to clean, safe food is a stake. Please call Alan, let him know you are a member of Homegrown Co-op and that you are disappointed he was absent on a critically important vote that could ultimately lead to the end of the local food movement.