Food & Water Watch works with grassroots organizations around the world to create an economically and environmentally viable future. Through research, public and policymaker education, media, and lobbying, we advocate policies that guarantee safe, wholesome food produced in a humane and sustainable manner and public, rather than private, control of water resources including oceans, rivers, and groundwater.
On their site they discuss H.R. 875 and they give some good information on it. Here is a cut and paste from their site. http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/foodsafety/background-on-h-r-875
Here are a few things that H.R. 875 DOES do:
- It addresses the most critical flaw in the structure of FDA by splitting it into 2 new agencies –one devoted to food safety and the other devoted to drugs and medical devices.
- It increases inspection of food processing plants, basing the frequency of inspection on the risk of the product being produced – but it does NOT make plants pay any registration fees or user fees.
- It does extend food safety agency authority to food production on farms, requiring farms to write a food safety plan and consider the critical points on that farm where food safety problems are likely to occur.
- It requires imported food to meet the same standards as food produced in the U.S.
And just as importantly, here are a few things that H.R. 875 does NOT do:
- It does not cover foods regulated by the USDA (beef, pork, poultry, lamb, catfish.)
- It does not establish a mandatory animal identification system.
- It does not regulate backyard gardens.
- It does not regulate seed.
- It does not call for new regulations for farmers markets or direct marketing arrangements.
- It does not apply to food that does not enter interstate commerce (food that is sold across state lines).
- It does not mandate any specific type of traceability for FDA-regulated foods (the bill does instruct a new food safety agency to improve traceability of foods, but specifically says that recordkeeping can be done electronically or on paper.)
So, while some farmers may need to worry, the home farmer or the farmer who grows their own goods to sell for themselves need not worry.
The Obama administration most likely does not represent the end of the world. Sorry to dissapoint. :-)
After we did the compost bin, I had some trees that I had cut down and pulled out of the ground just lying around the yard waiting to be put on the street to be hauled away...I had an idea...I am going to be planting peas and beans and they need trellesses to climb. I have saved myself some money now because I have stripped those trees of their dead foilage and I'm going to put them inot the garden as the trellesses! I'm excited!
The good part of today was that we got the garden area tilled and ready to be planted...I need to go get some compost and manure and start my seeds! I'm going to go get some buckets too, so that I can have patio tomatoes and i'm going to do the same with my cucumbers as well...I took some pictures of the tilled area and the dirt looks so good and rich! I'm so happy with it!
