I took some time this week to look into the FDA’s Proposed Regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act. Food Safety is of vital importance to us, as it is to all farmers, of course. It’s the Modernization part that I’m concerned about. I’ll be making my comments to the FDA this week and I hope you will also comment (see links below). They need to hear from as many people as possible who get their produce directly from small farms or we could see some very negative unintended consequences from these rules.
Rules that are of particular concern include (1) excessive restrictions on using manure and compost, which would effectively eliminate manure use by requiring a 9-month waiting period (as opposed to the National Organic Program (NOP) regulation requirement of 4 months) and impose a 45 day waiting period for compost use (unnecessary if compost is produced correctly–which is already regulated by the NOP) — remarkably they still allow sewage sludge to be used on conventional farms; (2) expensive water testing requirements, and requirement to treat water that fails a questionable scientific measure with an “approved” chemical treatment that does not currently exist (3) insufficient small farm exemptions and protections, and (4) potential requirement of small market or CSA farmers who make pickles for added value or provide consumers with any produce from a neighboring farm to register as a “food processing facility” and adhere to another layer of burdensome regulations designed for major food manufacturers.
Here are some of the things the FSMA regulations don’t do. (1) As pointed out by the food policy watchdog group Cornucopia, the regulations do not address a major root source of pathogenic contamination: intensive feeding/confinement of livestock, a likely source of the type of harmful bacteria that cause many of the human illness outbreaks. (2) They do not promote the benefits of on-farm conservation practices, native plant buffers, and hedgerows. These practices help filter run-off water from farm fields, improve the microbial health of the soil, and provide habitat for beneficial predators who eat rodents. These practices are not prohibited by the rules, but farm-side habitat could be targeted by inspectors applying standards for keeping wildlife away from crops. After the outbreak of e coli O157:H7 contamination in spinach in 2006, the Nature Conservancy estimates that 13% of the riverside habitat left in the Salinas Valley was destroyed by farmers trying to meet food safety plans by minimizing contamination threats from wildlife. Ironically, this removes vital water filtering functions that would help improve the general safety of our water, food and environment.
If the overall effect of the regulations is too burdensome on small direct-to-consumer farms, (and some estimates are that it could add costs up to 6% of gross sales, while small farms average only a 10% net profit) it could have the effect of reducing the number of small farmers who stay in business or decide to start a farm. This would not be a benefit for food safety. We believe that food produced in living soils without chemical inputs by farmers who know their customers is safer for people to eat. The major food borne illness outbreaks tend to come from large processing facilities, where the contamination can be spread easily to a shocking quantity of produce and widely distributed. Small farms are really the solution here, not the problem.
FDA Needs to receive all comments by November 15th, so time is short. Here are some options to find out more or to comment.
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has an excellent website with detailed information about each specific issue in the proposed rules.
The Wild Farm Alliance has a lot of great information and a link to comment directly to the FDA online (although when I tried this link today it says that the FDA site is experiencing technical difficulties.)
Cornucopia has information and a proxy letter. You just print out the letter, sign it and send it to Cornucopia to deliver in a bundle with others.
The Community Alliance with Family Farmers also has excellent information on this issue.
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