Monday is the big day—the Senate vote on S510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. I’ve heard so much about this bill, good and bad, I don’t know what to think anymore. It seems to boil down to these two arguments: What kind of fool doesn’t want food safety? What kind of fool thinks we’re going to get it from this bill? Mostly, the bill gives our elected officials a chance to look good on camera, purporting to address the public outrage over the many food contamination incidents.
As it happens, we have all the laws we need in place today for a safe food supply but the FDA and USDA lack the funds to appropriately inspect farms and facilities. (Makes me wonder where the FDA is getting the funding for the stings and shut downs of one-cow farms.) This bill gives additional power to the FDA and the Secretary of Health and Human Services that has yet to be defined, even though the FDA has been repeatedly wrong on food issues (rBGH and GMO labeling come to mind).
When it comes down to it, this bill is really about control of the food system. Naturally, I’m not for federally controlled food, being more of a local free range type. It’s not that I don’t think the government is here to help—I just doubt they will be very good at it. I’ve been incredibly safe with my local fare while the general population has not been safe with their national and international federally-regulated foods. I count my blessings through every food scare.
Not to rub their noses in it, but I can make egg nog from scratch using fresh (unpasteurized) milk and cream and fresh (non-irridated, unpasteurized) eggs and drink it without fear. Most of the consumers in this country cannot. A good food safety bill would make it possible for everyone to do that yet, this bill could make it illegal for me to do that anymore. We’ll see how well the Tester amendment holds up. Still, my whole personal food pyramid could collapse.
My fears are not unfounded. Take raw milk for example. I know my farmer and I trust his delicious, wholesome product over the alternative. For some reason though, the authorities have taken every opportunity to raid, invade, sting, or otherwise entrap purveyors of raw milk. The FDA is already on record for saying we have no inherent right to choose what we eat. So why give them more power until we can believe they will use it fairly and wisely.
Forgive me for being a skeptic when it comes to the benevolence of our public servants, but goodness in politicians is measured by how well they stay bought. The passage of this bill into law is subject to the scrutiny and approval of Big Food. Yet Big Food’s production practices are at the heart of our food safety problems! This bill will be to food safety what the Patriot Act is to our freedom and the Health Care Act is to our health: helping a very few, a reduction of some liberties for the many, and financially lucrative for very large corporations in related industries.
Henry Kissinger is credited with saying, “If you control the food supply, you control the people.” You don’t need to be part of the tin foil hat crowd to see the Big M’s dominance on the global food scene. Talk to farmers in Iraq and India and see how their food security is working out.
It seems obvious to me that a safer food supply would be made up of decentralized, small-scale farms, following sustainable practices. It would be good, clean, and fair.
I’m certain that no matter what happens, my farmers will make lemonade out of lemons, applying their usual Yankee ingenuity to keep their farms viable and productive.