S. 510 Food Safety Modernization Act in Process

WFA is working with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) in Washington, DC to ensure conservation-based agriculture is not compromised. Below is an update from our organizations:

Senate HELP Committee Approves Food Safety Act

On Wednesday, November 18, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved a revised version of S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act. Senate floor action is considered likely early next calendar year, though no one is entirely ruling out floor action yet in December. The House has already passed its companion bill, so once the full Senate takes action the House and Senate will conference to work out the wide ranging differences between the two bills.

The newly revised version instructs FDA to create rules that are:

• flexible and appropriate to the scale and diversity of the farm,
• take into consideration conservation and environmental standards established by federal conservation, wildlife, and environmental agencies,
• not include requirements that conflict or duplicate organic standards,
• prioritize for implementation rules for crops that have been associated with foodborne illness, and
• make the FDA coordinate with USDA, rather than merely requiring them to consult with USDA. The coordination specifically includes the National Organic Program.

Many other NSAC/WFA proposals were not included in the bill, including:

An instruction to FDA to do public notice and comment rulemaking on "animals of significant risk" with respect to pathogens of concern for food safety, rather than the bill's current instruction that FDA rules should prevent "animal encroachment" with no reference to risk factors.

A narrowing of the definition of farm "facility" to exempt farms doing value-added processing of low-risk foods and targeting small and mid-sized farms with value-adding enterprises for a training-based food safety apparatus rather than industrial-style regulation.

A national training program for farms and small processors, previously introduced as a separate bill known as the Growing Safe Food Act.

Instructions to FDA to make new "good agricultural practice" guidance scale appropriate, pro- diversification, and consistent with conservation and organic standards.

An exemption from traceability requirements for direct farmer to consumer, store, or restaurant sales or farm identity-preserved labeling sales.

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