Food Safety
Due to the rise in major outbreaks of foodborne illnesses over the last several years, both Congress and the Administration proposed new food safety measures in 2009 that could directly affect farms, ranches, and food systems by expanding mandatory food safety regulatory oversight to the farm level. There is no question that the food system in the U.S. needs to be made safer and that federal oversight and enforcement must be strengthened. Making our food safer, however, should not come at the expense of sustainable and organic producers’ livelihoods—those farmers who best model the production and marketing methods necessary for ensuring a resilient landscape and healthy human society.
While NSAC supports the important efforts to decrease foodborne illnesses, the primary legislative vehicles introduced into the House (HR 2749) and Senate (S 510) in 2009 have largely failed to acknowledge the diversity of agriculture or the different risks associated with various production and processing practices. As a result, NSAC has emerged as the leading voice for small and mid-sized sustainable and organic farmers in the current food safety debate, making every effort to ensure that new food safety measures do not create additional barriers to the adoption of sustainable and organic practices, on-farm or to consumers’ access to healthy, local foods.
More specifically, NSAC has taken the lead, with assistance from member groups and help from the National Organic Coalition, to mobilize support from House and Senate Members to ensure that any new produce standards in proposed food safety legislation:
- Are flexible and appropriate to the scale and diversity of the farm;
- Do not include requirements that are in conflict with or duplicate the National Organic Standards;
- Take into consideration conservation and environmental standards established by federal conservation, wildlife, and environmental agencies; and
- Prioritize rules for crops or specific processing steps that have been associated with foodborne illnesses.
Actions Taken:
- NSAC’s policy brief on food safety Food Safety on the Farm, October 2009.
- NSAC policy recommendations for improving S 510, March 29, 2010.
- Food Safety update on S 510, February 18, 2010.
- Consumer groups endorse Senator Stabenow’s Growing Safe Food Act (S. 2758) to support food safety training for small and mid-sized farmers, February 2, 2010.
- 69 national organizations sign onto letter circulated by NSAC supporting proposed amendments to S 510, November 16, 2009.
- NSAC rebuttal to memo circulated by Rep Dingell regarding NSAC and NOC concerns in HR 2749, concerning small, mid-sized, and organic producers, July 30, 2009.