I have been getting e-mails, phone calls and even a note from our mail carrier about proposed federal legislation titled H.R.875.  This bill, introduced by U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and with 40 sponsors, is titled the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. 

People are freaking out about the sweeping controls included in the bill – and rightfully so based on what people on websites, in blogs, and even in our local newspaper are saying about it.  One note that I received said that this bill will “eventually get rid of organically grown food, farmers’ markets and potentially home gardens and orchards.”   

Numerous organizations that I respect (Slow Food USA, Organic Consumers Association and NOFA – the Northeast Organic Farming Association) have warned against a hysterical reaction.  Dave Rogers, the policy “dude” at NOFA-VT, sent out the following in response to a fellow Localvore’s question about the bill:

1.    H.R. 875 is not going anywhere – its  proposal to split the FDA into two agencies has no support.

2.    Each of the bills in Congress [there is more than one bill focused on improving food safety] has some unacceptable or troubling aspects; ironically, H.R.875 is viewed by those who have actually read it and the other bills, to be the LEAST damaging to small farm interests. It certainly does not "criminalize" organic farming or threaten to make growing food illegal!

3.    Sweeping food safety legislation is not likely to emerge from Congress anytime in the near future (a year or more in the opinion of many) -- meanwhile we are joining with other organizations who are working to make sure that the interests of small farms and local markets are recognized and accommodated in the legislative process.

4.    We are working with the other NOFAs in the Northeast and other organizations to get funding to develop a program to address food safety concerns as well as the interests of small farms and local markets.    

The sad truth is that our mainstream food system is a mess; it is a house of cards that is starting to crumble.  No longer is the potato salad at the church potluck our biggest concern when it comes to food safety.  Now we need to worry about peanut butter crackers from a vending machine, organic spinach, any burger that hasn’t had the life cooked out of it, and now, one of my favorite wildcard foods, pistachios!   

But what do all of those foods have in common?  They are all products of the industrial food system. What is most scary to me about the solutions that are being discussed at the highest level of our government is that they are usually one-size-fits-all regulations.  So, our local farmer, Dave Hartshorn, would have to treat his spinach exactly the same way that Earthbound Organics has to treat theirs.  But, the two processes are completely different.  Dave produces a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what Earthbound produces, and has just a couple of helpers.  He harvests everything by hand and sells it to his customers within a day of taking it out of the field.  In addition, Dave sells his spinach directly to customers who, for the most part, live within a 30-mile radius of his farm, so that it is easily traceable back to his farm.  But the best safety measure of all is knowing that Dave is eating the same spinach that I am.  I can’t imagine better quality control.   

There is a real and serious problem with food safety in the United States and something needs to be done about it.  In my ideal world, everyone would wake up tomorrow and realize that local food is the solution to the problem.  But it will probably be a hot day in Yakustsk, Russia, before that happens.     

What is really needed is scalable regulations that are appropriate to the size of the operation, the complexity of traceability, and the number of people who could potentially be affected by a fault in the system.  There are examples of scalable regulations in many other governmental arenas and they work well.  For example, I have to comply with a different set of regulations as the driver of a passenger car than the regulations that the captain of a 747 jet must comply with.     

What’s that?  You say I am comparing apples to oranges?  My point exactly!

Robin McDermott is a co-founder of the Mad River Valley Localvore Project. She and her husband, Ray, operate their business, QualityTrainingPortal, from their home in Waitsfield, where they also grow much of their own food.