Senate Bill 510, the "Food Safety Modernization Act"--restricting small farmers to protect profits of giant food companies

S.510 keeps coming back from the dead . . .and

Update 12/21/2010: Senate Bill 510 –Passage of S.510:

• Congress sticks it to U.S. farmers with passage of food safety bill
• The hostile takeover of agriculture
• Thanks to “Dirty Harry” Reid: An Overt Act of Betrayal by Both Houses of Congress

In response to the recent passage of “food safety” bills S. 510 and corresponding H.R. 2751, the Vermont Coalition for Food Sovereignty has drafted its own resolution called “The Vermont Resolution for Food Sovereignty.”. . . to declare and protect the food and health freedom rights of all Vermont citizens. (Source)

Please read: Senate Bill S510–Where are we now?

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Update 12/19/2010: Senate Bill 510 –S.510 PASSED BY SENATE and SENT BACK TO HOUSE FOR VOTE TUESDAY; see also: S 510 Fake Food Safety bill passed by Senate in late-night sneak attack on small farmers and food freedom

Update 12/9/2010: Senate Bill 510 — the Food Safety bill now back in the hands of the U.S. Senate after the House hid an amendment in an appropriations bill and passed it last night. Read more here: S 510 Food Safety bill is still alive; or here: http://www.naturalnews.com/030672_Food_Safety_bill_FDA.html#ixzz17eYMwjxk

Update 12/2/2010: Senate Bill 510 — the Food Safety bill passed the Senate but is temporarily *stalled out* The Senate passed its version of the Food Safety bill by a margin of 73 to 25, and sent it on to the House of Representatives for approval. BUT it has apparently run afoul of a Constitutional provision that means the law must now be kicked back to the Senate for yet another vote. But there may not be time for another vote. Read this fascinating development in the NY Times: NYT: Senate Bill on Food Safety Is Stalled; or read it here: http://www.naturalnews.com/030588_Food_Safety_bill_blue_slip.html

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In a supposed attempt to “safeguard” our food supply, S.510 would in fact grant extraordinary powers to the FDA to impose extensive, burdensome requirements on small- and medium-sized farms, ranches, and orchards such that many of them would certainly be driven out of business. This misleading bill is designed to reduce competition from small farmers and protect profits of manufactured foods delivered by large food companies and restaurants.

Read text of S. 510 here: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act .

Read a critique of S.510 here: Top ten lies about Senate Bill 510

Comments:

• It seems that every legislative session, we are faced with the prospect of the same food bill cloaked in a different name. Invariably, this bill seeks to corral all food production into the hands of a few major corporations and essentially destroy the ability of the population to feed themselves. . . . S.510 is a repackaging of past bills [that failed] (see here and here ) and attempts to control people through food. It is also yet another attempt to implement Codex Alimentarius guidelines under the guise of domestic legislation. (Source)
• This proposed law puts all food production (yes, even food produced in your own garden) under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security. Yep — the very same people running the TSA and its naked body scanner / passenger groping programs.
• This law would also give the U.S. government the power to arrest any backyard food producer as a felon (a “smuggler”) for merely growing lettuce and selling it at a local farmer’s market–or to restrict saving of seeds.
• It could be used as the basis to sell out U.S. sovereignty over our own food supply by ceding to the authority of both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Codex Alimentarius.
• It would create an unreasonable paperwork burden that would put small food producers out of business, resulting in more power over the food supply shifting to large multinational corporations.

Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has been called “the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America.” It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public’s right to grow, trade and transport any foods.  (Source)

The US government WILL use S.510 to expand its attack on small farmers, to restrict them or shut them down–it has attacked small farmers before, and will do it again: “Feds order farmer to destroy his own wheat crops: The shocking revelations of Wickard vs Filburn.”

The Supposed Small Farmer “Exemption Amendment” DOESN’T

Read about the Tester Amendment here:

• Full text of the amendment: http://tester.senate.gov/Legislation/upload/tester_amendment_agreement.pdf
• Summary of the amendment: http://mainstreetinsider.org/onepagers/111/Tester%20Amendment%20to%20S.%20510.pdf
• Q&A about the amendment: http://www.worc.org/userfiles/file/Local%20Foods/QA_Tester_Amendment.pdf

Critique of the Tester amendment: Eric Blair points out in his article Why the Tester Amendment Does NOT Help Small Food Producers Under S.510:

Those [S.510 Tester Amendment Exemption Requirements] bear a striking resemblance to the ‘expensive’ food safety plans outlined in subsection (h) of S.510 that small producers are supposedly exempt from. In other words, they must submit similarly comprehensive plans just to qualify to be exempt from creating them. But it gets worse.
  If Grandma wants to sell her famous raspberry jam at the county fair (within 275 miles of her canning kitchen) she will indeed be a small producer exemptions, but not before she forks over 3 years of financials, documentation of hazard control plans, and local licenses, permits, and inspection reports. She must submit this documentation to the satisfactory approval of the Secretary; and if she fails to do so, the entirety of S.510 can be enforced on her. That’s hardly what I call an exemption.

Potential Criminalization of Seed Saving

S.510 could be used to regulate and possibly criminalize seed saving, turning backyard gardeners who save heirloom seeds into common criminals, or restricting small farmers from saving seeds, forcing them to buy their seeds each year from “authorized” seed suppliers like Monsanto. (Source)

Here’s how S.510 could be “interpreted” by giant seed suppliers to their advantage, and to small farmers’ disadvantage. S 510 “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act“, section 206, c:

Regulations- Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and representatives of State departments of agriculture, shall promulgate regulations to establish science-based minimum standards for the safe production of food by food production facilities. Such regulations shall–

(1) consider all relevant hazards, including those occurring naturally, and those that may be unintentionally or intentionally introduced;

(2) require each food production facility to have a written food safety plan that describes the likely hazards and preventive controls implemented to address those hazards;

(3) include with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting, and storage operations, minimum standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment… and water… (Source: S 510 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, section 206, c)

Seeds are already classified by FDA as a type of food, plus S.510 applies to seeds because it mentions “with respect to growing, harvesting, storing, and sortage operations.” S.510 would give the FDA bureaucracy the potential “discretion” to apply strict, high bar standards to seed cleaning and storage, to the point that no small farmer could afford. For example, the FDA could hold that a storage area for seeds isn’t clean enough, or cleaning equipment isn’t sophisticated enough. It’s giving a government agency too much power, especially when companies are throwing big money around to “lobby” and “influence” decisions by government agencies. (Source)

S.510 Implements Codex Alimentarius in US (Source)

In reading the traceability-related sections of S.510, there is a striking similarity between the language of the bill and that of Codex Alimentarius in its own proposed guidelines.

The HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point), a “food safety” methodology used by Codex Alimentarius (and addressed in S.510), plays an important role in the tracking, tracing, and monitoring of food production. Under this system, food business operators (defined so broadly so as to include both big agribusiness and recreational gardeners) are required to “identify any steps in their operations which are critical to the safety of the food; implement effective control procedures at those steps; monitor control procedures to ensure their continuing effectiveness; review control procedures periodically and whenever the operations change.”

Likewise, in the document entitled, “Recommended International Code of Practice General Principles of Food Hygeine,” Codex states that “Where necessary, appropriate records of processing, production and distribution should be kept and retained for a period that exceeds the shelf-life of the product. Documentation can enhance the credibility and effectiveness of the food safety control mechanism.” Although the language of the bill and the Codex document are not identical in every section, they are similar. Unfortunately, this is all that is needed to initiate the implementation of Codex Alimentarius guidelines in the United States.

However, there is yet another danger posed by S.510 in regards to Codex Alimentarius. The fact that this bill provides the FDA, HHS, and even DHS with even more authority over food production, transportation, and consumption should be alarming enough. But because these agencies often respond to policy as much as they do law, the chances of Codex Alimentarius guidelines being implemented domestically rises sharply. This is due to the fact that no congressional approval would be needed to implement them. Simply an executive order or change in policy from the executive branch or even the FDA, HHS, or DHS acting independently would be enough to enact Codex guidelines in the United States.

Because Codex Alimentarius guidelines are enforced by the WTO, any dispute brought before the WTO and its dispute settlement board could essentially force the United States to buckle under and implement Codex guidelines. With the passage of S.510, the need to gain congressional approval for such a change would be effectively erased.

Yet while Codex guidelines can be enforced through the WTO in one fell swoop, it is much more likely that they will be implemented by stealth. Introduced gradually and under the cover of domestic legislation, the chance of organized public resistance is greatly reduced. Without a doubt, the majority of Americans have no idea what Codex Alimentarius actually is. In fact, it is an unfortunate reality that the majority of the American public have no idea what S.510 is. Even to the relatively informed individual, the legislation is merely just another government power grab. Little do they know that is a major step forward on the path to a global dictatorship which uses food as a weapon and a means of control. 
 
Those who ridicule activists and opponents of S.510 as paranoid conspiracy theorists march unwittingly down a road which leads directly to just such a global tyranny where food will be most definitely taken – but not for granted. (Source)

Follow the Money

Special Interest Groups that support S.510 and how much they bribed donated to Senators: (Source)

• Restaurants & drinking establishments $3,217,767
• Food and kindred products manufacturing $1,753,503
• Milk & dairy producers $1,717,687
• Food stores $1,473,532
• Beverages (non-alcoholic) $744,551
• Vegetables, fruits and tree nut $709,238
• Veterinarians $551,750
• Beverage bottling & distribution $289,725
• Food wholesalers $284,900
• Food & Beverage Products and Services $281,137
• Fishing $277,984
• Chambers of commerce $219,234
• Manufacturing $207,740
• Food catering & food services $171,835
• Confectionery processors & manufacturers $96,438
• Consumer groups $6,100
• Farm bureaus $0

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How to Protest Senate Bill S.510

You can sign a petition here: http://www.petitiononline.com/SBILL510/petition-sign.html, or

Cornucopia Institute recently sent out the following information: (http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/11/a…)

1) Go to Congress.org and type in your zip code in the box in the upper right hand corner.

2) Click on your Senator’s name, and then on the contact tab for their phone number. You can also call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your Senator’s office: 202-224-3121.

3) Once connected ask to speak to the legislative staff person responsible for agriculture. If they are unavailable leave a voice mail message. Be sure to include your name and phone number.

Give them this message in support of the “Tester Amendment” which would exempt small farms from S.510:

“I am a constituent of Senator___________. I ask that he/she support the Tester Amendment to the food safety bill. The Tester Amendment will exempt the safest, small, owner-operator farms and food facilities and farmers who direct market their products to consumers, stores or restaurants. Food safety legislation should not create inappropriate and costly regulatory barriers to family farms and the growing healthy food movement in the drive to crack down on corporate bad actors. Please support the Tester Amendment and market opportunities for small and mid-sized family farms, and small food processing facilities.”

You may also wish to explain that you oppose the Food Safety Modernization Act in its entirety, and it is a destructive, freedom-crushing law that will destroy the future of food in America.

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Related Articles

• Betrayed again: S.510 fake food safety loaded into government funding resolution (ppjg.wordpress.com)
• S. 510 and Codex Alimentarius Link: Tracking, Tracing, and Monitoring Independent Food Production (ppjg.wordpress.com)
• Bribery and Graft abound as Reid attaches S.510 to clunkers (ppjg.wordpress.com)
• S01E12: The Tester Amendment to S. 510 the Food Safety Bill (mydd.com)
• Senate Bill S-510 Makes Growing Food In Your Backyard Illegal (culturalhealth.blogspot.com)

• Senate votes cloture on S 510
• Why the Tester Amendment Does NOT Help Small Food Producers Under S.510
• S 510 is hissing in the grass
• Food Freedom blog at: http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20…
• S. 510: 12 Reasons Why The Food Safety Bill From Hell Could Be Very Dangerous For The U.S. Economy
• Reddit discussion of this post
• Snopes article: http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/organic.asp
• Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) has sponsored an amendment to the food safety bill (S. 510)
• S. 510: A Clear and Present Danger
• Seeds – How to criminalize them
• The History of Health Tyranny
• The Health Tyrants
• The Structure of Health Tyranny
• Who’s Trying to Scuttle the Amendment that Protected Organic and Family Farms? Big Food on the Attack!

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