Eco Women: Protectors of the Planet!

3 responses so far ↓

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  Elizabeth // December 17, 2009 at 6:26 am | Reply

  Here’s the link from Thomas.gov:
  http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d111:1:./temp/~bdjge7::|/bss/111search.html|

  I haven’t got time to read the text before heading to work, but certainly will at some point today. Sounds similar to NAIS.

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  Elizabeth // December 17, 2009 at 8:22 am | Reply

  So I’m reading the bill (at work, heh) and here are some interesting bits: the FDA will be changed to the Federal Drug and Device Administration and rolled into a new Food Safety Administration. They want to modernize the whole thing, which is a good idea. The FSA will ” (A) regulate food safety and labeling to strengthen the protection of the public health;

  (B) ensure that food establishments fulfill their responsibility to process, store, hold, and transport food in a manner that protects the public health of all people in the United States;

  (C) lead an integrated, systemwide approach to food safety and to make more effective and efficient use of resources to prevent food-borne illness;

  (D) provide a single focal point within the Department of Health and Human Services for food safety leadership, both nationally and internationally; and

  (E) provide an integrated food safety research capability, including internally generated, scientifically and statistically valid studies, in cooperation with academic institutions and other scientific entities of the Federal and State governments”

  again, nothing bad yet. Things to keep in mind, though: “food establishment” means a food processing building — slaughterhouse, factory, facility, etc. that processes food or stores or transports it. “Food production facility” means a farm, ranch, orchard, CAFO, etc. as well as restaurants, any place where food is prepared directly for the customer, and fishing vessels (unless that fishing vessel also processes its catch).

  Here’s where things get tedious: “adopt and implement a national system for the registration of food establishments and foreign food establishments, as provided in section 202 of this Act…” but will also “provide technical assistance to farmers and food establishments that are small business concerns (meeting the requirements of section 3(a) of the Small Business Act and the regulations promulgated thereunder) to assist with compliance with the requirements of this Act.” This is the bit that sounds like the USDA’s NAIS.

  Section 202 gets into the registration process. Section 205 goes into the inspection process and this is where you’ll need to know about the different categories of food establishments that they’re setting up. The category that will affect farmer’s markets is “CATEGORY 3 FOOD ESTABLISHMENT- The term `category 3 food establishment’ means a food establishment (other than a category 1 or category 2 establishment) that processes cooked, pasteurized, or otherwise ready-to-eat seafood or other animal products, fresh produce in ready-to-eat raw form, or other products that pose a risk of hazardous contamination.” Cat 3 establishments will have random monthly inspections and have to keep up verification that their processes are controlled. Whatever that means. Like I can control where my cats pee in my veggie garden. Shuh.

  More tediousness: establishments will have to keep records of ” (A) the origin, receipt, delivery, sale, movement, holding, and disposition of food or ingredients; (B) the identity and quantity of ingredients used in the food; (C) the processing of the food; (D) the results of laboratory, sanitation, or other tests performed on the food or in the food establishment; (E) consumer complaints concerning the food or packaging of the food; (F) the production codes, open date codes, and locations of food production”

  Prohibited acts: “for a food establishment or foreign food establishment to fail to register under section 202, or to operate without a valid registration,” and “to slaughter an animal that is capable for use in whole or in part as human food at a food establishment processing any food for commerce, except in compliance with the food safety law,” and basically not following this Act’s provisions.

  I haven’t read through Titles 3-5, except for that one last bit on prohibited acts from Title 4.

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  melissawest // December 17, 2009 at 10:27 am | Reply

  I wish the government would BUTT OUT–especially out of cottage industries.