The Congressional Hammer:Your Currently Viewing: (Food Safety)

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H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009

After you have read the following sample letter, you may send it to your Representatives along with any additional comments that you add. To send the letter below as an email, copy/paste the sample text into your Senators' or Representatives' contact form. Use the form at the bottom of this page to find your Representative.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Despite its noble-sounding stated objectives, H.R. 875 would effectively transfer all state control over food regulation to the new Food Safety Administration (FSA), which is destined to become a new federal bureaucracy that would eventually dominate state and local food safety agencies already in place.

The definitions found in this legislation indicate that it intends to create an all-encompassing and intrusive agency. For example, “The term ‘food production facility’ means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation.”

The legislation will also mandate extensive record keeping and inspections, which may not be very burdensome to the large factory farm, but which will be difficult for the small family farmer to comply with. First, “Any food establishment or foreign food establishment engaged in manufacturing, processing, packing, or holding food for consumption in the United States shall register annually with the Administrator.” Then, “The Administrator shall establish an inspection program, which shall include statistically valid sampling of food and facilities to enforce performance standards.”

The legislation requires “each food production facility to have a written food safety plan that describes the likely hazards and preventive controls implemented to address those hazards.” And it invites snoopy government bureaucrats to descend upon each “food production facility [which] shall permit the Administrator upon presentation of appropriate credentials and at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, to have access to and ability to copy all records maintained by or on behalf of such food production establishment in any format (including paper or electronic) and at any location, that are necessary to assist the Administrator.”

Recall that one of the complaints levied against King George III by the signers of the Declaration of Independence was: “He has erected a Multitude of New Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People and eat out their Substance.”

The FSA, by imposing burdensome record-keeping requirements on farmers, would contribute to the eventual closing of all independent, family farms as well as all organic farming operations due to overbearing federal regulations arbitrarily determined by FSA in favor of corporate factory farms.

Furthermore, H.R. 875 mandates what is a clear violation of the tenth amendment, which states that all powers not delegated to the federal government are retained by the states or the people. The Constitution does not delegate powers to monitor food safety to the executive branch (nor any branch) of the federal government. That the intrusion of the new Food Safety Administration into the affairs of the states and municipalities is planned by this bill is signaled by this statement: “The Administrator shall leverage and enhance the food safety capacity and roles of State and local agencies and integrate State and local agencies as fully as possible into national food safety efforts….” (Emphasis added.)

Scroll down to take action by sending an email to your representative and senators in Congress telling them to oppose passage of H.R. 875 in both Houses of Congress.

Be sure to personalize the pre-written message to ensure the maximum impact. Please feel free to edit the pre-written message.

SAMPLE LETTER OR EMAIL:

Please oppose passage in both the House and the Senate of H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009.

This legislation will place burdensome regulations upon U.S. food production facilities, including all of our nation’s family farms. By mandating extensive record keeping and inspections, which may not be very burdensome to large factory farms, family-owned and –operated farms will be placed at a competitive disadvantage. Most family farmers are already struggling to keep their farms solvent, and their economic troubles often are the result of government meddling into the agricultural marketplace. The excessive regulations proposed by H.R. 875 will only aggravate farmers’ problems, leading to the end of the family farm as we know it.

Because family farming is much more than a commercial enterprise — it is a way of life — the creation of a new bureaucracy that will potentially destroy that way of life must be avoided at all costs.

Furthermore, H.R. 875 violates the tenth amendment by usurping powers that rightfully belong to state, county, and municipal governments. The legislation states that it will attempt to “integrate State and local agencies as fully as possible into national food safety efforts….”

Family farmers, like the rest of American, are struggling in these difficult economic times. Our federal government must leave our farmers free to produce food for our nation free from intrusive federal regulation. Producers and consumers of food alike can ill-afford another federal bureaucracy adding to the cost of our food bills.

CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES:

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