Your source for fruit and vegetable news

By Bobbie Whitehead

Misinformation over a food safety bill has some gardening blogs and other web sites claiming the legislation targets backyard gardens for government inspections and would end organic farming.

This isn’t the case, according to the office of U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who introduced the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 in February.

The purpose of the legislation is to assure consumers have confidence in the food they buy and is not aimed at the small farm, according to DeLauro’s office.

DeLauro introduced “the Food Safety Modernization Act, which would fix systemic problems in our food safety system by modernizing our food safety laws and establishing a separate Food Safety Administration headed by an expert in food safety within the Department of Health and Human Services,” as stated in a Feb. 4 press release.

The legislation addresses the FDA’s current structure, which some say fails to meet food safety and drug safety responsibilities, according to the Congresswoman’s office.

Despite the bill's purpose, myths about its intent continue to grow, and to debunk some of these, DeLauro’s web site includes a myths and fact sheet to address misinformation that has circulated. (Click here for the fact sheet.)

For starters, the legislation would not “make it illegal to grow your own garden.” In fact, “there is no language in the bill that would regulate, penalize or shut down backyard gardens,” as stated in the fact sheet.

The legislation isn’t aimed at shutting down farmers markets, which already operate according to guidelines and standards set by individual states.

“Farmers markets would be able to continue to flourish under the bill,” according to the fact sheet. “In fact, the bill would insist that imported foods meet strict safety standards to ensure that unsafe imported foods are not competing with locally-grown foods.”

Also, the fact sheet explains that it’s a myth that the food safety bill would end organic farming, “mandate the use of chemicals” or require the usage of certain types of seed.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, not the FDA, regulates organic farming under its National Organic Program, and the full text of the bill doesn’t address any regulation of pesticides or seed usage.
The food safety bill currently is in the House committees on Energy and Commerce as well as Agriculture and most likely will undergo many revisions before any action is taken.

A number of consumer advocates groups, though, are watching the bill and have written about misleading information circulating about the legislation. The Annenberg Political Fact Check at www.factcheck.org, a non-profit, nonpartisan consumer advocacy group, reports that some information circulating the Internet raises concerns with the broad definition of “food production facilities,” which are among facilities that would be inspected.

The bill, H.R. 875, defines food production facilities as “any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation.” This definition can be found under Section 3, number 14 of the bill.

Another nonprofit consumer organization following the legislation, the Food & Water Watch, reports the bill does not include additional regulations for farmers markets or other “direct marketing arrangements,” nor does the bill include regulations for home gardens or seed. Visit http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/foodsafety/background-on-h-r-875 for more information.

To read the text of the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, visit http://thomas.loc.gov/ and type H.R. 875 in the “Search Bill Summary & Status” box, then check the “Bill Number” box beneath the search box and hit enter.