La Vida Locavore is the blog for anyone whose crazy life includes planting, growing, weeding, fertilizing, raising, picking, harvesting, processing, cooking, baking, making, serving, buying, selling, distributing, transporting, composting, organizing around, lobbying about, writing about, thinking about, talking about, playing with, and eating food!
Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA) *=House Organic Caucus member B=Blue Dog Democrat
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
As you may have heard, Cargill's recalling a big bunch of beef. It's from their Beef Packers Inc. plant, and this is the second salmonella problem they've had this year. In the first incident (in August), they recalled 825,769 pounds of ground beef. This time they are recalling a mere 22,723 pounds of ground beef (although who knows - that number might go up). As such, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) is calling on the USDA to shut down the plant:
"Given the repeated violations of Beef Packers Inc., the USDA should close this facility and undertake a comprehensive examination into the process at Cargill-BPI to identify and correct any major problems internally or with their suppliers," DeLauro said in a news release.
The USDA probably cannot legally shut down the plant, but they can withdraw their inspectors and that will effectively shut the plant down since the plant cannot operate without USDA inspectors present.
So here's Cargill's response:
"Since Beef Packers Inc.'s voluntary product recall in August 2009, we have undertaken a comprehensive examination of our processes and believe that this review can continue without the closure of the Fresno operation," Cargill responded in a statement forwarded to Meatingplace. "This comprehensive examination has already resulted in process improvements and implementation of additional food safety enhancements at the Fresno operation. Additionally, we will be convening a panel of respected food safety and public health experts to conduct a third-party evaluation of our Fresno business."
Translation: We're fine. Nothing to see here. See, we fixed the problem in August. Please ignore the fact that we've managed to taint our meat again now in December.
The House just passed a major budget increase for the chronically-underfunded FDA. Specifically, the FDA is getting an extra $373 million (and the Wall Street Journal calls it "the largest boost in the agency's history")! To put that in perspective, the FDA's entire 2010 budget is $2.99 billion, so it was a about a 14% increase to their budget.
Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) told DeLauro that "We're stealing our grandchildren's future by spending so much money," and introduced an amendment to keep funding levels the same. (Wait - wasn't he the guy who wanted to make 2010 the Year of the Bible? Are we supposed to pray the E. coli away?) DeLauro replied that Broun's proposal "in fact would put this agency back in jeopardy. We just cannot afford to neglet our food safety system any longer." Hell yeah, Rep. DeLauro!!!
(I have an idea for Broun - why don't we save our grandkids' money by no longer buying more F-22 fighter jets for the military... these things are the ultimate pork. They have parts made in 44 different states, so Congress keeps ordering more planes to create jobs in their states even though the military says NO MORE F-22s! The F-22 was made to fight the Soviets - but it's not just that they are outdated. They are also complete crap. They only fly an average of 1.7 hours at a time before breaking down! Let's use the money the House just set aside for F-22s for food safety instead.)
Back to the FDA budget story, here's some more info on the budget from the WSJ:
Much of the increase in funding will target food safety initiatives, an area where the FDA has faced numerous challenges in the last year amid concerns as to how the agency responded to a variety of foodborne health problems involving peanuts, pet food and hot peppers. Rep. DeLauro said it will allow the FDA to review more food that enters the country's borders and hire an additional 1,150 foreign and domestic inspections.
The USDA's highly unpopular National Animal ID Program suffered a setback recently, according to Meatingplace:
Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has proposed cutting new funding for the National Animal Identification System from the 2010 spending bill, saying the federal government has spent too much money on a program that has yet to be implemented effectively.
As chair of the House Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee, DeLauro controls the purse strings of the USDA. She has been (and still is) a proponent of a mandatory national ID system, something that small farmers and ranchers insist will put them out of business - all but removing consumers' choice for meat, eggs, and dairy that aren't factory farmed. However, she feels that the USDA has been wasting the money they been given over the years to implement the program ($142 million since 2004), and she's sick of throwing money away on it.
Right now the USDA is conducting listening sessions around the country (in which the vast majority of feedback they've gotten about the program is very negative), and DeLauro stated on her website:
"Until USDA finishes its listening sessions and provides details as to how it will implement an effective ID system, continued investments into the current NAIS are unwarranted."
A few weeks ago I wrote about a fight in Washington over whether or not the U.S. should allow imports of processed Chinese chicken. Meatpackers said yes, and nearly everyone else said no.
So here's the latest from Meatingplace.com on the matter, written by Former Undersecretary of Agriculture for Food Safety Dr. Richard Raymond:
"Chickety China, the Chinese Chicken. Eat a drum stick, and your brain stops tickin'." Words from "One Week", a song by the Canadian group Bare Naked Ladies. If you have kids in their early thirties, you know of this group.
But Congress must have taken these words literally because they have banned cooked Chinese chicken supposedly so we can keep our brains tickin'. There is nothing about their action that is based on science, so I must assume they will quote these lyrics when responding to the WTO complaint filed by China.
I'm pretty sure he got the lyrics wrong, first of all. I believe it's HAVE a drumstick and your brain stops tickin'. Looks like he checked his facts on that about as well as he checked his facts on the Chinese chicken issue.
There's a quiet fight going on in Washington right now about Chinese poultry. I say it's quiet because I haven't seen much coverage on it. But to those involved, the fight ain't so quiet.
Currently, the U.S. has a ban on processed poultry products from China. Those in favor of keeping it in place include poultry growers associations, family farm organizations, food safety groups, consumer advocacy groups, and others (see a full list below). They cite China's poor food safety regulatory system (with the recent melamine scandals as exhibit A) as a primary reason to keep Chinese poultry out of the U.S. and they also note the effect lifting the ban would have on American poultry growers. Why should we put our own poultry growers out of business so that Americans can eat cheaper but less-safe poultry from China?
And then there's the major multinational corporations (listed below). They are ALL FOR importing Chinese poultry. Their argument? We need to play nice with the WTO and its rules. Which, in my opinion, is a piss poor reason to disregard the health and safety of the American people and the fate of the already troubled domestic poultry industry. Growth in the chicken market has slowed recently and some of the large corporations signed onto this letter have been cutting contracts with America poultry growers, leaving them hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars in debt, stuck with enormous broiler houses and nobody to sell chickens to. Isn't now the exact WRONG time to start importing cheap and possibly unsafe Chinese chicken?
If you want to take action, shoot off an email to your Congresscritter, asking to keep the ban on processed poultry products from China in place. And, while you're at it, CC Barack Obama.
Two menu-labeling bills are currently in Congress. To be totally honest, I don't think either of them are strong enough; but there's one clear choice of the two. One is a weak, bare-bones, Applebee's and McDonald's-friendly bill introduced by Tom Carper ("D"-DE) and Lisa "Daddy Appointed Me To The US Senate" Murkowski (R-AK), which is being pushed by industry lobbyists, corporate Democrats and Republicans; while the other was introduced on Thursday by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT).
I'm a bit late in reporting on it but Tom Vilsack testified before the House Ag Approps subcommittee on March 31. His testimony was unremarkable if you've been following Vilsack all long. Below, I list highlights from his testimony and then notable excepts from newspaper coverage of the hearing.
For me, the most important take-away from the hearing was about a mandatory national animal ID system (NAIS). Rosa DeLauro is strongly supportive of a mandatory system. Vilsack wishes to meet with opponents of NAIS before pushing ahead.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, D- Calif., told a March 11 hearing, "Our first goal should be to address the problems that plague this program where it currently sits. After we finish that job, we can consider whether a reorganization is necessary, and, if so, how to go about it." As a first step, he said that his committee would move "a strong food safety bill" in the next few months.
He hinted that he would draw from bills by Reps. Bart Stupak and John Dingell, both D-Mich., Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Jim Costa, D-Calif., and Adam H. Putnam, R-Fla.
- The Safe FEAST Act of 2009 (H.R.1332) by Costa & Putnam
- The Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009 (H.R.759) by Dingell
- The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (H.R.875) by DeLauro
My recommendation if you want to take action: Email your representative and tell them you want any food safety bill that passes to protect small farms and businesses who do not sell across state lines from an undue regulatory burden. While small farms or businesses that sell locally are not immune from food safety problems, any problems they might cause would be limited to a local area, not spread out nationwide like the food safety disasters of the past several years. This is even more important if your rep is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Right now, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) is introducing a bill called the Food Safety Modernization Act (H.R.875). This bill would establish a Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services (where the FDA currently resides). This would transfer all food safety duties from the FDA to the new agency and then rename the FDA the "Federal Drug and Device Administration." From my reading of the summary of the bill, it would not affect anything that is currently under other departments or agencies like the USDA or the EPA.
I don't think it's controversial to say that we need a better food safety system in this country. Two MAJOR things to note in the bill - it requires inspection AT LEAST once a year, and it gives the government the authority (at long last!) to mandate recalls AND tell consumers where the recalled food was located (not just which city or state, but which retail stores). It also provides for penalties up to $1,000,000 fines per person and/or jail time if you "commit a violation with the intent to defraud or mislead."
If you want to support this bill, please make a quick call or send an email to your Congressperson asking him or her to co-sponsor the bill. Please also, take a peek at the list of Congresscritters below - these are people targeted by Consumers Union who we'd like to see co-sponsor the bill. If you have a moment, please choose a few of those on the list and give them a call.
A suggested phone script is also below. To reach the capital switchboard, call 202 225-3121 or one of the toll-free numbers below.
I think it's important to become familiar with the major players on legislation affecting our food system. First up is a Congresswoman who has been pissing me off lately.
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
Rosa is a 9th term Congresswoman from Connecticut's 3rd district. In 2006, she was elected with 76% of the vote. Rosa was born in New Haven, CT, on March 2, 1943. She is Catholic, and her highest degree was an MA from Columbia in 1966. Before she was elected, she had a career as a political adviser. Rosa is married to Stanley Greenberg. Greenberg is a pollster.
The reason why we care about her at the moment is because of her assignment to the Appropriations committee - the House committee that doles out the cash. Not only is she on the Appropriations committee - she heads up the subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and related agencies. That means, if we want money for something it goes through her. She also serves on the Budget committee.
Rosa cares quite a lot about food safety, as you can see from her statements here. Unfortunately, she's recently been supportive of the National Animal ID System as a means to achieve food safety and that is NOT what we want. NAIS will hurt small farmers without actually improving food safety.
Contact Information Phone: 202-225-3661 (DC); 203-562-3718 (CT)
Fax: 202-225-4890
Chief of Staff: Kevin Brennan
Scheduler: Tiavalya Jefferson
Legislative Director: Leticia Mederos
Press Secretary: Adriana Surfas
Buy an autographed copy of Recipe for America LVL Gear
"Too Big to Fail" T-Shirt
(details)
Support La Vida Locavore
Subscribe for $10/month:
One-Time Gift:
