In early 2011 President Obama signed
into law the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), to address the
inadequacies in the regulation of food safety. An extension has been
made for comments for the proposed rules by the FDA, to Nov. 22.
Giving Americans an opportunity to voice their concerns about the
soon implementation of the mandates. On FDA.gov it states, “FSMA is
the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70
years.”So what does this mean to our small farmers?
Tom Philipott wrote and article in
MotherJones.com, stating, “Finally, more than two years after Obama
signed FSMA, the FDA's rule-making process appears to be nearing an
end. And I'm disappointed to report that, according to decidedly non
paranoid, non crazy observers, the proposed rules as currently
written represents a significant and possibly devastating burden to
small and mid size players.”
The “players”, Tom is referring
to, are the small farmers making under $500,000/annually in sales.
And, according to a Brad Jones' article, 'Food Safety Modernization
Act: The End of Fresh, Living Food?' in the DailySheeple.com, while
these small farms are exempt from some of the most burdensome
regulations, they aren't exempt from all of them. Also, even these
exemptions they do get can be revoked by the FDA for suspected
violations of food safety, with no evidence or reason why.
He points out, the average farmer
makes only 10 percent of sales, which means farmers with an income of
$50,000 have to comply with regulations designed for mega farms and
food processors. The FDA admits farmers with $500,000 in sales
revenue, will pay 4-6 percent on compliance costs to the new laws.
This means they will spend half of their net income, significantly
hampering their ability to continue farming.
On top of the actual costs, the small
farmer will be required to spend copious amounts of time reading and
learning the 1200 pages of new rules and regulations. Brad Jordan
states, the regulating of small organic farms out of business, will
leave farming in the hands of a few mega farmers and processors.
Judith McGeary, the founder of Farm
and Ranch Freedom Alliance was on Food Riot Radio, where she stated,
“If you thought the government taking control of our health care
was bad, imagine what it'll be like when they take over our farms.
People should be fighting this harder than they fought Obamacare.”
According to the National Sustainable Agricultural Coalition: the rules make using organic fertilizers like manure and compost very difficult. Instead being coerced to use chemical fertilizers making our food lifeless, and containing synthetic nutrients.
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| creative common from flickr.com |
FSMA seems to be another Federal monstrosity, intending to take control of, and manipulate another vital aspect of our freedoms. By endless regulations and questionable intentions, the power of the Federal government is impeding in our daily lives more and more. The end result seems to be total control, with the citizens at the will of those in power being merciful to allow us any freedoms at all. I for one distrust the discernment of the FDA. And I think they should concentrate more on GMO foods and products like Aspartame, if they were actually concerned for our safety as Americans.
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