“Small-scale, local and organic food producers and their customers won a major, against-the-odds victory yesterday when the House of Representatives passed new food safety legislation. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) purports to give the Food and Drug Administration new tools to fight pathogen contamination in the US food supply in the 21st Century. But the most significant elements of the bill are the provisions protecting small and organic farms and local food producers from devastating and unnecessary federal regulations. With the FSMA, for the first time, the federal government is on record in recognizing that size does matter in regulating agriculture. By limiting FDA’s power to govern small farms and food makers serving predominantly local markets, the FSMA ensures that the local food sector can continue to thrive, continue to offer consumers a healthy alternative to industrial food, and continue to drive job growth.
This victory is thanks to our community working together, organizing, and making our voices heard. Now we will have a chance to see head-to-head whether diffused, localized food systems work to better protect public health—in terms of nutrition and pollution as well as pathogen control—than the highly-concentrated national and international system does today. The local, organic food community welcomes such a competition. The big handlers, distributors and retailers appear less enthusiastic.”
Roland McReynolds of Carolina Farm Stewards
www.carolinafarmstewards.org
