S510 Vote Delayed During Health Care Talks Updated 12/23/2009: S510, called a food safety bill, will subject small farmers and processors to the same regulations as multinational agricultural conglomerates. S510 will require producers of value added products to register their property with the government, pay an unspecified fee (HR2749, which passed in the House, requires an annual fee of $500), prepare and use continually a HAACP plan, trace suppliers and buyers, and comply with the government’s “best growing methods”. HR2749 allows warrantless searches and seizures of products and records. S510 additionally specifies that searches and seizures may include animals, which may be destroyed. I referred to HR2749 as “NAIS for bread and jam”; S510 could lead to mandatory NAIS for everything.

Traceability could be a very big issue for us depending on how clear any exemptions for small farmers are and whether or not those exemptions disappear at a later date, as exemptions sometimes do! Both HR2749 and S510 aim to have full trace back and trace forward records at nearly every point of a food item’s existence, until sold to the final consumer. We will need special labels with tracking numbers that conform to Global Trade Identification numbers, even if we never sell a single item out of our own state, much less out of the country. A few years ago, it may have been an easy argument that tomatoes don’t need barcodes, but now tomatoes, greens, peppers and melons are on a “risky foods” list and may be included

A feel good exemption added to HR2749, is that food, including livestock, that is consumed on farm or sold directly to a consumer, restaurant or grocery store is exempted. This could mean farmers must either sell cuts or contract to sell live animals, which can then be delivered to a butcher and processed under USDA or custom butchering, as the state allows. A farmer who sells at auction without registration would not be exempted. The exemption, however, still requires strict recordkeeping even for those who sell direct! Another amendment that is not as good as it seems: S-510’s amendment that delays but is unlikely to stop our need to comply with global standards.

Small farms and processors currently have state agriculture and health departments to deal with, as well as organic, humane or other certifiers. This bill greatly broadens the FDA’s authority, even into matters Constitutionally under state jurisdiction. (Per the 10th Amendment, food that is not sold across state lines is out of Federal jurisdiction.) It also gives FDA expanded authority in traditionally USDA matters.

If you fail to pay fees within 30 days of the due date, “such fee shall be treated as a claim of the United States Government”, which means property could be seized. Farmers could be shut down and ordered to pay recall and inspector fees for “misbranded” products, which clearly include not only safety issues, but also sloppy paperwork!

S510 includes dozens of requirements for the Health and Human Services Secretary to “devise and implement” plans for specific food issues, which means the bill could change drastically over time. Although HR2749 exempts farmers who sell direct to the final consumer, S510 is less clear. Since size of business or gross receipts are not considered, even a one acre blueberry farm selling through retail stores could be forced to comply. S510 should be discarded entirely, but if the legislators will not do so, we would at least like the exemption to be based on annual sales totals and acreage. (I do not like the “farm worth” option recommended in another “food safety bill”, S2758, because that invites taxmen out to investigate.)

A much simpler and less expensive option would be to simply order more inspections of meat processors and food manufacturers and to make recalls mandatory. Currently, only small U.S.D.A. meat processors have full time inspectors (a major factor in the higher cost of local meats). At commercial plants, less than 1/10th of one percent of cattle are inspected for BSE, and one percent tested for other issues. HAACP allows food processors to inspect themselves and issue recalls voluntarily.

Senator Tom Harkin (D, Iowa), the Chairman of the HELP Committee that passed S-510 on 11/18/09, is waiting for cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. He may work for public funding of the bill rather than levying fees on industry. No matter who pays the bill, the country is in debt and can not afford to trace every tomato, loaf of bread and jar of jam. S-510 will go to vote before the entire Senate after the fate of Health Care Bill is decided. Even if you have already written your Senators, please remind them before the vote how you feel.

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, a co-sponsor of the aforementioned S2758, is aware that some requirements for large businesses would be ridiculous for small growers. His Communications Director, Julie Edwards, says growers who sell only direct will not, for instance, have to install hand washing stations in the field. Surely our one acre blueberry farmer will be much relieved.

Senator Ron Wyden: www.wyden.senate.gov, 202-224-5244 phone, 202-228-2717 fax. Senator Jeff Merkley: www.merkley.senate.gov, 202-224-3753 phone, 202-228-3997 fax .

Other Bills to Keep an Eye On
	The Federal Government is drafting regulations to deal with “risky produce” such as melons, greens, tomatoes and peppers. We do not yet know if the regulations will be for suppliers engaging in interstate commerce only.

S2758, introduced by Stabenow (D, Mich.) which has languished in committee, requires education for farmers, processors and wholesalers. The USDA would provide the training first to agriculture departments, extension services, trade associations and universities, who would then teach at the local level. Training would include safe handling, manufacturing and packing, risk analysis, traceability and recordkeeping. S1101, also introduced by Stabenow, details training further and apparently benefits The Food Protection Training Institute in her own state.

Yet another food safety bill that has stalled is S425, which concentrates on traceability of foods shipped in interstate commerce.

House bills HR875. 759 and 1332 will probably be shelved indefinitely since HR2749 passed. HR759 may be the worst of the lot, since it literally requires that all produce be electronically traceable.