Politics of Food: Safety Legislation Poised for Senate Vote on Monday, November 29

Following the important food safety legislation (Senate S.510 bill) has been difficult because of the shifting positions by small food growers and multinational corporations. Amendments increased the complexity of the bill, such as the Tester Amendment. However, a key Senate vote appears likely on Monday, November 29 as reported by SFGate.com.

Looking past dire warnings was not difficult, such as statements like how the bill "would outlaw gardening and saving seeds" and how "food safety is a Trojan horse for Monsanto" to dominate more of food production. A November 4 food safety roundtable on Grist.org clarified the positions of some:
The Senate is expected to vote tomorrow [11/17/10] on the Food Safety Modernization Act -- and possibly pass it by this weekend. Yesterday, we posted our Food Fight participants' heated -- and lengthy -- debate over whether S. 510's provisions will harm small farms or producers. They also discussed whether the Tester-Hagen amendment, which creates exemptions for small farms and food processors that meet certain criteria, mitigated this harm sufficiently without diluting the safeguards for consumers.
A 74-25 Senate vote on November 17 allowed the bill to proceed. After the vote an AP report by Mary Clare Jalonick published in the Kansas City Star (and on other sites) underscored the backroom negotiations needed to get final votes, namely promises to accept amendments on earmarks and the Tester Amendment to exempt small farms from the bill's requirements. Notable small farmer and organic farming advocates, like the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and Michael Pollan, changed their support on the legislation after promises that the Tester Amendment would be included.

Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) as well as the Organic Consumers Organization want concrete assurances that the bill, as written, won't apply the regulations explicitly crafted to regulate large industrial facilities (factory farms and industrial agriculture and manufacturers) to small businesses (family farmers, organic growers, farmer's markets, food artisans and local suppliers).
Despite small grower groups taking strong stands against the food safety bill regardless of the Tester amendment, perhaps the changing position of the big ag companies would help confused readers take a stand on the bill. A few days ago the largest food companies -- Monsanto, Archer Daniels, Cargill, ConAgra, to name a few -- reversed their support for the bill because of the Tester Amendment as described in a letter from agribusiness trade groups.

Agribusiness’s real concern about the Tester-Hagan amendment isn’t food safety, but the precedent set by having Congress recognize that small, direct-marketing producers are different, and should be regulated differently, from the large Agribusinesses.

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