http://www.govtrack.us/...
HR 875
It's got many layers of stupidity, but of most concern for those that like to buy local is it's generically written manner with no exemptions
Any food establishment or foreign food establishment engaged in manufacturing, processing, packing, or holding food for consumption in the United States shall register annually with the Administrator.
The Administrator shall annually compile a list of domestic food establishments and a list of foreign food establishments that are registered under this section. The Administrator may establish the manner of and any fees required for reregistration and any circumstances by which either such list may be shared with other governmental authorities. The Administrator may remove from either list the name of any establishment that fails to reregister, and such delisting shall be treated as a suspension.
(3) include, with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting, and storage operations, minimum standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment, and water;
In General- The Administrator, in order to protect the public health, shall establish a national traceability system that enables the Administrator to retrieve the history, use, and location of an article of food through all stages of its production, processing, and distribution.
DEMONSTRATION OF ABILITY- The Administrator, during any inspection, may require a food establishment to demonstrate its ability to trace an item of food and submit the information in the format and timeframe required under paragraph (1).
It is prohibited 7) to fail to provide to the Administrator the results of testing or sampling of food, equipment, or material in contact with food, that is positive for any contaminant under section 205(f)(1)(B);
CIVIL PENALTY-
(A) IN GENERAL- Any person that commits an act that violates the food safety law (including a regulation promulgated or order issued under the food safety law) may be assessed a civil penalty by the Administrator of not more than $1,000,000 for each such act.
(B) SEPARATE OFFENSE- Each act described in subparagraph (A) and each day during which that act continues shall be considered a separate offense.
That's alot of oversight. The rest of the bill details the paperwork and more paperwork that these farms have to go through. Now I can understand regulating mass dispersal in major grocery store chains, but there needs to be some differentiation between big ass companies and the small organic farm down the road that I buy my produce from. And the way it's written now it does include even the backyard gardener
- FOOD- The term ˜food" means a product intended to be used for food or drink for a human or an animal and components thereof.
Who knows if they'd enforce it but why write it so generically shitty then? Why is it necessary to write 10,000 other things into a bill just to make it shitty. Minimum standards for fertilizer use? What? F*ck you.
I understand the need to regulate some things and keep an eye on our major food suppliers, but enough of this corporate bill nonsense that includes the small farmers and tries to make them play on the same field as the big boys, which essentially puts them out of business.