ALERT - Senate Bill S 510 Food Safety Modernization Act

Monday November 29, 2010 the Senate will reconvene and resume consideration of S.510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. The Senate will convene at 2:00 p.m., and begin a period of morning business. Thereafter they will resume consideration of S.510.

Wednesday November 17, 2010 the Senate voted on a motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to S. 510; FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. The motion passed on a vote of 75 – 24 with Murkowski (R – AK) not voting. Between 1917 and 1946, the Senate managed to invoke cloture on only five occasions.

This bill that has been written to promote food safety if far from the truth. It is another bill to create larger government and remove more of our freedoms. The text of this bill is written to provide the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture and the Department of Homeland Defenses with unlimited powers over the food we consume.

The wording in this bill does not state that you cannot grow your own food in your back yard to feed your family. What it does state is new requirements for those who grow and sell food to others for consumption.

There are currently 3 types of business sizes listed in the bill. Large Business over $750,000 or more in profits, small business under $750,000 in profits and new category of Very small business.

Large business have the much needed resources to pay the new administration fees, maintain attorneys’ on retainer for possible legal issues. The new costs associated with S.510 will have little to no impact on the large food suppliers. These cost will be passed directly to the consumers (aka. you and me) while having no affect on company profits. While most large business that supply food to consumers have historically been the root to many of our food problems.

Small business will take the blunt of the impact from this new bill. Small food growers and suppliers will not have the finical means to cover additional overhead costs associated with this bill. Maintaining required records, administration fees, along with the impact if investigated are forced to have foods tested in a laboratory. Small businesses normally do not have the resources to maintain an attorney and the owners are normally impacted personally if problems arise.

Very Small business is defined by the Small Business Administration as a business that has no employees and has a gross receipts of $1,000 or more. Most very small business are personal ventures that are reportable to under the Federal income tax and are not the main source of income for the owner. This would be directly reflected on those who grow foods in their backyards and sell at a local farmers market. This type of business would be more of a hobby than a primary source of income. S. 510 would bring this type of very small business to an immediate end.

In the U.S. due to the increased interest in healthier foods, a greater desire to preserve local types of cultivars or livestock (some of which may not be up to commercial shipping or yield standards) and an increased understanding of the importance of maintaining small, sustainable farms on the fringe of urban environments, farmers' markets in the US have grown from 1,755 in 1994 to 4,385 in 2006 to 5,274 in 2009. In July 1934 a contingent of farmers pulled their trucks onto an expanse of empty land at the property known as Gilmore Island at the corner of Third and Fairfax in Los Angeles. They displayed their produce on the tailgates of their vehicles, to their delight; customers quickly arrived and parked their cars on a hastily created dirt parking lot in spaces designated with chalk. They strolled among the trucks purchasing fruit, vegetables and flowers.

S. 510 would bring the local farmers market to an end, it would place a large burden on the small business while eliminating the very small grower altogether. The large companies would then have a total monopoly of the food supplied to consumers and would result in rising cost that the large majority of U.S. Citizens cannot afford in our down economy.

The large businesses have had the problems of contaminated foods and have historically had major recalls on consumer goods that have had negative impacts on the consumers. Small and very small growers have had the best track record for fresh and safe food because of the quality and growing methods without adding additional pesticides and growth hormones.

Contact you Senator today and tell them to vote no on S. 510. Remind them that small businesses are the basis for which our country was founded. Tell them that we need to reduce government spending and create more non-government jobs to restore our economy. We need to maintain the historical practice of our Farmers Markets with respect to our friends and neighbors that grow and sell foods locally. We do not need to spend additional money on programs that will only have a negative effect on our citizens and economy.

You can contact the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request.

Charles Black

AZ 2012 Congressional Candidate

Constitutional Conservative Republican