Protecting Conservation, Local Foods and Local Economies in the Next Round

ACTION ALERT: Senate Bills Needs Public Input

Congress will finalize food safety legislation soon. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee has marked up S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, but critical issues have not been addressed.

Wild Farm Alliance has worked with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition to fashion a set of common sense provisions that must be added to S. 510.

Call your Senators with this simple message. "I am a constituent of Senator___________ and I am calling to ask him/her to make sure the following issues are incorporated into legislation:

• Instructions to FDA to make new "good agricultural practice" guidance consistent with conservation and organic standards and scale appropriate, and pro- diversification.
• 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 food safety training, education, outreach, extension, and technical assistance program for farmers and small processors, previously introduced as a separate bill known as S. 2758 Growing Safe Food Act. It integrates food safety standards with sustainable agriculture and conservation systems.
• An exemption from traceability requirements for direct farmer to consumer, store, or restaurant sales or farm identity-preserved labeling sales.

After a final bill passes the Senate and the Congress, the FDA will write the actual rule and our public input will be of great importance. Watch for more information on this website to take action.