ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
P.O. Box 3657
Fayetteville, AR 72702

Background and Resources on Federal Food Safety Enhancement Act

October 13th, 2009

UPDATE:
Senate Takes Up Food Safety Legislation
H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act (FSEA) of 2009 which has been passed by the House of Representatives has caused significant controversy among almost all elements of the agricultural community. The Senate is now pursuing its version of the bill, S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. At the same time several grower, handlers, and processors groups are pursuing additional national food safety standards for leafy greens through the creation of a leafy greens marketing agreement.

The House bill grants the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authorities and resources it needs to better oversee the safety of the nation's food supply. The legislation also increases industry's responsibility for overseeing the safety of their own products and provides FDA with new and enhanced tools to hold them accountable when they fail. The controversy within the broad agriculture community is to what degree the ultimate legislation will increase the ability of the FDA to regulate farmers on how to produce food safely. Many agricultural groups have been trying to modify the legislation to limit or carefully constrain the ability of the FDA to expand its regulatory authority over agricultural production. The major argument is that the source of the food safety problem is not with farm production practices, but rather with food processors, particularly those that are very large and process high volumes of product.

The broad sustainable agricultural community has responded to the FSEA, and in particular several groups (including NCAT) have joined together with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) to respond to more detailed elements of the legislation and to work to improve the legislation in the Senate version.

Below is a link to a policy brief developed by NSAC which reviews the FSEA, the draft Senate legislation and the leafy greens marketing agreement. A"Dear Colleague Letter" that was circulated within the House, regarding further amendment to the FSEA that were not adopted in the final bill.

Dear Colleague Letter

More information:
NSAC Food Safety Policy Brief
Courtesy of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

More information on FSEA including current text of bill see:
H.R. 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009

This document is a response by the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture (NSAC) to representative Representatives Dingells' comments on the House passed bill.

For related information from a special food safety working group established by President Obama see: http://www.foodsafetyworkinggroup.gov/Home.htm

A recent release by the Western Organization of Resources Councils also outlines similar and particular sustainable agricultural issues on the legislation:
http://www.worc.org/userfiles/file/Food_Safety_Act.pdf

Last Updated October 13, 2009

ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. Visit the NCAT Web site for more information on our sustainable agriculture projects.

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