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Food Safety 
Mon Aug 29, 2011 at 18:05:50 PM PDT
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cross-posted at Bleeding Heartland
A year ago, the recall of half a billion eggs laid in Iowa made national news headlines. But if you thought that federal or Iowa government agencies would take meaningful steps to reduce the chance of another salmonella enteritidis outbreak in egg factories, guess again.
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Fri Jun 17, 2011 at 11:19:42 AM PDT
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Cross-posted with permission from Food Safety News
by James Andrews | Jun 16, 2011
With recent estimates attributing the ongoing German E. coli outbreak to 3,406 illnesses and 39 deaths, it has become the deadliest -- and second largest -- E. coli outbreak in history. And while already singular in its impact, the outbreak sets itself farther apart in that its infections have resulted not from the infamous E. coli strain O157:H7, but O104:H4, a rare strain never before linked to a large foodborne illness outbreak.
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Wed Jan 12, 2011 at 15:20:43 PM PST
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Although last year's massive egg recall was linked to a Salmonella enteriditis outbreak at two facilities in Iowa, few politicians in this state have advocated new food safety rules or procedures. During his final address to the Iowa legislature yesterday, Governor Chet Culver (D) said his administration "provided the legislature and the new administration with a detailed summary addressing the historic egg recall last summer. This includes five proposed changes in Iowa law that will help improve food safety and employee training standards in the wake of the salmonella outbreak last summer." Excerpt from the Culver administration memo:
Although the new federal egg regulatory regime is aimed at the state's largest producers, a new, mandatory Iowa [Salmonella enteriditis] detection and prevention program should be enacted under amendments to existing law and the creation of a new Iowa Code Section 196.15 to complement the federal government's efforts to prevent SE contaminated shell eggs from entering into the nation's food chain from all of Iowa's egg producers.
There are at least five issues that are not covered by the recent federal egg regulatory reforms, that Iowa law does not currently address and that, therefore, unless corrected legislatively, may leave consumers of Iowa-produced eggs vulnerable to future SE poisoning. First, federal egg safety laws pertain only to egg farms that host at least 3,000 hens and do not cover smaller operations. Second, under federal law, producers have no legal obligation to report positive SE testing results to any federal or state agency. Third, there are no accreditation or certification standards for laboratories that conduct SE testing. Fourth, there are no legal criteria that establish the minimal level of training and competency for persons who are charged with the responsibility for implementing a new mandatory SE detection and prevention program. And, fifth, there is no clearly-identified funding stream to support an effective expansion of state egg programs.
I posted the complete Culver administration memo on egg safety proposals at the Iowa community blog Bleeding Heartland. I'm not optimistic that incoming Governor Terry Branstad or the Iowa legislature will support these ideas, but they merit serious consideration. I would be interested in feedback from the La Vida Locavore community.
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Tue Jan 04, 2011 at 22:12:39 PM PST
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After nearly 2 years of work by Congress on this specific bill and decades of advocacy for food safety reforms in general, Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act into law today. If nothing else, it shows how much patience and stamina one needs to follow anything in Congress through to the end. The bill went through so many twists and turns that by the time it finally passed, I wasn't even sure exactly what was in the final version, even though I had a general idea. Again and again during 2010, I got frantic emails that the bill was headed to the Senate floor "this week" or "next week" and after a while, those emails seemed like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, because it never happened. But then, right before Christmas, it happened. And Obama signed it.
I don't believe this bill will fix the food system, which is still, by and large, based on the same enormous farms, processing facilities, manufacturers, and corporations as it was before. And, of course, so many of the pathogens that cause food safety problems stem from enormous livestock operations that were not included in this bill at all. But this is a start. It's not nothing.
And, hopefully, it won't hurt any of the farms and small businesses that we love. While there was obviously heated debate over the impact this bill would have on small producers, the best evidence that it will be OK (or as good as possible) is the statement that was sent out by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (pasted below). NSAC was originally and nearly to the end quite worried about the bill's impact on small and sustainable producers, and they worked with the Senate until they reached a compromise that they could live with. Details of that compromise are below.
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Thu Dec 23, 2010 at 00:52:33 AM PST
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Here's a list of what just passed, to the best of my knowledge:
1. Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell
2. START treaty
3. Tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, i.e. "compromise"
4. The Shark Conservation Act (no more finning in US waters!)
5. The food safety bill
6. The Child Nutrition reauthorization (i.e. school lunch)
7. Aid to 9/11 first responders
8. Extending the federal budget til March
Did I get it all there?
OK, well first... what do you notice about this list of bills (perhaps leaving the Obama tax "compromise" beside)? None of them have any real enemies. There isn't a "We Hate 9/11 First Responders" lobby, with the exception of perhaps Bin Ladin himself (and if Congress is being influenced by him we have bigger problems on our hands). Nor is there a pro-E. coli lobby. And now even the top military brass is for the repeal of DADT.
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Tue Dec 21, 2010 at 16:28:53 PM PST
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The House of Representatives gave final approval to the food safety bill today on a mostly party-line vote of 215 to 144. The yes votes came from 205 Democrats and 10 Republicans; the no votes came from 136 Republicans and eight Democrats. I am still surprised that the Senate resurrected the food safety bill on Sunday. I have yet to see any explanation for why Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma agreed to let it pass. Coburn had been that bill's most vocal opponent in the Senate all year. It's not as if he suddenly decided to stop being a jerk; he appears ready to block the 9/11 responders bill from becoming law during the lame-duck session. Even some Fox News commentators are upset about that political maneuver.
Anyway, President Barack Obama is expected to sign the food safety bill soon. Consumer and sustainable agriculture advocates worked hard to strengthen this legislation. Now watchdogs need to keep an eye on the rule-making process and enforcement of the inspection and recall provisions.
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Sun Dec 19, 2010 at 17:41:54 PM PST
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You may recall that Senate Democrats imperiled the food safety bill, S510, by forgetting to put revenue-raising language in a bill that originated in the House of Representatives. Senate leaders tried to salvage the situation by adding the food safety language to the massive ominbus spending bill Congress was expected to approve last week. However, Senate Republicans torpedoed the omnibus bill on Friday, leaving few options for getting the food safety bill to President Barack Obama's desk before the new Congress convenes.
Today Jamie Dupree reported that the Senate took the food safety language from the "continuing resolution" on spending that had already passed the House and added it to "a House-passed Cash for Clunkers" bill. The Senate then approved the new bill by unanimous consent. Amazingly, no Republican gummed up the works on that, not even the food safety bill's deadly enemy Tom Coburn. The bill now goes back to the House, where Dupree says approval is expected this week.
UPDATE: The Hill's Alexander Bolton and Matthew Jaffe of ABC News report on the Senate maneuvering.
I had almost given up on this bill passing. It's not perfect, but it's a good step forward.
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Thu Dec 09, 2010 at 12:37:03 PM PST
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Far as I can tell, the Secretary of the Senate never notified the Clerk of the House of Representatives that the Senate had passed S. 510. S. 510 never was transmitted to the House, the House never received S. 510, and the House did not officially consider S. 510.
I think what happened was, the provisions of S. 510 were inserted into the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution (H.R. 3082) as if of virgin birth.
The next step is for the Senate to concur with the Continuing Resolution.
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Tue Nov 30, 2010 at 09:13:20 AM PST
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S. 510, the food safety bill, finally passed the Senate. The vote was 73-25. This bill is not yet a law, however. The House can pass the Senate bill, OR the two chambers can meet and work out their differences in conference, and then both the House and the Senate will need to pass the bill one last time. At that point it would go to Obama's desk, and he would most likely sign it.
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Fri Nov 19, 2010 at 10:52:51 AM PST
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First off, it's official: Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is the new Ag Committee Chair in the Senate. PHEW. BIG sigh of relief. This is wonderful news. She's not exactly Dennis Kucinich but she's a HUGE improvement over Blanche Lincoln, and there were fears that Ben Nelson or Kent Conrad would take the chairmanship instead of her, which also would have been worse.
Second, the Senate Republicans are playing all sorts of stupid games with the Food Safety bill - stuff that has nothing to do with food safety - and so the bill is stalled yet again. And now the Tea Party has started sending around frantic action alerts about how S. 510 is an evil government take over of your food and Glenn Beck is freaking out about it too.
Apparently, on Monday they will take votes on Coburn's bullshit amendments, and those votes will require a 2/3 majority which they won't get. Then they'll debate for a bit, have a cloture vote to end the debate (60 votes needed), and vote on the bill (simple majority needed). Stay tuned. And thanks to Naomi Starkman, Elanor Starmer, and Carol Tucker-Foreman for their help in navigating this very confusing process.
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Thu Nov 18, 2010 at 14:39:56 PM PST
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I've got two sets of news from DC. First, genetically engineered salmon. Alaska Senator Mark Begich (D) has introduced two bills, which have also been introduced in the House by Alaska Congressman Don Young (R). One simply stops the FDA from legalizing the GE salmon. The second says that if it's legalized, it must be labeled.
Second, food safety news. My inbox is FLOODED with news about this and it seems that Senator Tester has spoken on the floor of the Senate on behalf of small farmers. Here is what an email I received said about the state of the compromise taking place on the Tester Amendment.
Consumer groups and the bipartisan authors of S.510 have all agreed to compromise language for the Tester Amendment. That means the amendment will either be included in the manager's package (and would therefore become part of the overall bill), or it will be voted up or down as a stand-alone amendment.
The compromise differs in three respects from the most recent version of the amendment:
· Language has been added that gives FDA authority to withdraw an exemption from a farm or facility that has been associated with a foodborne illness outbreak.
· The distance from a facility or farm that is eligible to be a "qualified end-user" has been reduced from 400 miles to 275 miles.
· Language clarifying that farmers' market sales are "direct-to-consumer" for FDA's purposes has been revised to avoid creating unintended consequences (the effect is the same).
A summary of the revised amendment is online: http://tester.senate.gov/Legis...
Revised language is online: http://tester.senate.gov/Legis...
So, with all of that taken care of... will there be a vote? All eyes are now on Sen. Coburn.
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Wed Nov 17, 2010 at 15:30:20 PM PST
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If you want the short version, here it is: They won't vote on the food safety bill (S. 510) today.
The slightly longer version is that there's been a compromise after over a year of bickering. Some farms and processors will be exempt from some parts of the bill if they sell up to 275 miles from where that food is grown or processed. Also, the definition of what "retail" is has been clarified in a way that everyone likes. If the FDA believes there's a problem, they can check it out and, if necessary, remove the exemption for the problematic operation. I do not have more details on this (yet) but I think the important part is that EVERYONE agrees to it.
The only bad news here is that Dianne Feinstein tried to get a vote on her BPA ban amendment, and then the American Chemistry Council stepped in and killed it. DiFi made an excellent floor speech, which I will try to get a transcript of, and sent out a statement, which is below. I hope that, without any action on BPA from Congress, the FDA steps in to deal with BPA.
With all of that behind us, now we need to wait until tomorrow. If nobody filibusters, they could vote on it tomorrow. If Coburn still wants to stand in the way of this, it could drag out longer.
Can I just say: I hate the Senate.
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Wed Nov 17, 2010 at 14:55:12 PM PST
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Which company would you rather be in?
Organizations that support the Food Safety bill, S.510:
Consumers Union
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Food Marketing Institute
Consumer Federation of America
National Restaurant Association
General Mills
National Association of Manufacturers
International Dairy Foods Association
American Public Health Association
Grocery Manufacturers Association
American Bakers Association
International Foodservice Distributors Association
National Consumers League
American Frozen Food Institute
National Confectioners Association
Snack Food Association
Trust for America's Health
Produce Marketing Association
United Fresh Produce Association
American Beverage Association
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Veterinary Medical Association
Kraft Foods North America
Safe Tables Our Priority (STOP)
Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention
National Fisheries Institute
Pew Charitable Trust
International Bottled Water Association
National Coffee Association
Organizations that Oppose S.510:
American Grassfed Association
National Family Farm Coalition
Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Weston A. Price Foundation
The John Birch Society
Raw Milk Association of Colorado
Farm Family Defenders
Small Farms Conservancy
National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association
This information came from Govtrack.us
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Wed Nov 17, 2010 at 10:45:26 AM PST
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The food safety bill is on the floor of the Senate now. They've already voted for cloture, which means that nobody is filibustering this bill. The cloture vote was 74 to 25 and you can see it here.
I will post updates as they occur.
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Wed Oct 13, 2010 at 10:19:21 AM PDT
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In this week's episode, Nourishing the Planet research intern, Elena Davert, introduces a counter-intuitive method of cleaning water. In 2004 Peter Njodzeka founded the Life and Water Development Group Cameroon (LWDGC) with a rather simple goal. " I wanted to see the people in my area have clean water," he said. "And we kept expanding. That's how it started." Now, LWDGC, with support from Engineers without Borders (EWB) and Thirst Relief International, is teaching households how to use dirt and bacteria to clean their water, greatly improving the quality of drinking water and all but eliminating diseases caused by contaminated water.
Here is the link: http://bit.ly/ahFrGJ
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