Urgent Action Needed on Food Safety Bill: Call Senator Merkley Today!

November 17, 2009

Thanks to your calls and emails, Senator Merkley is responding to concerns over a one size fits all food safety bill. He has shown that he is willing to listen to your concerns with the current bill - which is why it is imperative that you call him (a second time, if you have already called or emailed) to let him know that the amendments he is proposing to S.510 do not go far enough.

Senator Merkley is to be lauded for all his efforts, but the current measures do not go far enough to protect small producers and processors from the unnecessary burdens that the food safety bill, as it now stands, is slated to impose. We are calling for an exemption of small producers and processors in the bill's language because (a) state and local health and agriculture departments already have laws and rules applying to farmers markets and other venues for local food sales; (b) the supply chain is nonexistent in direct market sales and is therefore readily transparent and traceable (no additional traceability measures are needed); and (c) local food systems are not what is broken - it has been the industrial agriculture system with its long, convoluted supply chains that has been the source of recent food safety concerns that this legislation admirably seeks to address. 

It is crucial that you call Senator Merkley today at (202) 224-3753 to express the following:

• Thank him for his work to make our food system safer;
• Thank him for his willingness to respond to the concerns of small producers and processors, and their customers;
• Call on him to: (1) Include the House language for exemption of small, direct market farmers and processors from FDA oversight and regulation, including trace back requirements; (2) Exempt small, direct market farmers from FDA produce regulations; and (3) Clarify in S.510 such definitions as "facilities" and "retail establishments," using the House bill's language.

Contact Senator Merkley's DC office at (202) 224-3753.

Don't wait! The Committee votes on the mark-up version tomorrow, November 18! Please call now. (If you could send us an email to confirm you've called, that would be much appreciated.)

Further Information

On November 13th - the same day our last alert went out - Senator Merkley signed on to a letter with four other Senators asking Committee Chairman Harkin that the FDA and USDA be required "to work together when developing food safety regulations, and to streamline the guidelines for organic producers and sustainable agriculture." Likewise, yesterday on the 16th, Senator Merkley issued a press release on his efforts to protect the "organic farming and sustainable agriculture industries." These show he hears you.

Although Senator Merkley is right in recognizing that producers and processors need not be subjected to duplicative and conflicting regulation, the emphasis placed on certified organic growers fails to recognize the significant number of un-certified entrepreneurs who are nonetheless producing and processing in a sustainable manner. Oftentimes it is the sheer cost of certification that is the obstacle. For example, in La Grande, none of the vendors at the local farmers' market is a certified organic producer or processor - a situation which is not uncommon east of the Cascades.

The food safety bill should therefore take into account the unique needs of small producers and cottage processors, and ensure that undue and unnecessary burdens are not placed on this burgeoning new sector of Oregon's economy. This can be done by exempting small producers and processors from the bill and by clearly defining within the bill such terms as "facilities" and "retail establishments" so that the regulation is not stretched to fall upon local food growers and processors for whom it was never intended.

For more background information, read the alert we sent out last week.

Don't forget, the Committee votes on the markup version of the bill tomorrow, November 18. Call today! (202) 224-3753.