So a Unit doesn't mean like "A peck" or "a box".. it means each piece of produce. Good grief. Like I said.. I think it would be a bear to enforce and the only people who will care are the good honest farm folks.

Come on, Bill, do you really think they are going to make farmers label every pea and green bean? They are probably referring to case lots. It's not such a bad thing if they can track down an e. coli or salmonella outbreak in time to save lives.

quote:

Originally posted by wd8izh:
....According to S425, as "Interstate Commerce", I can be required to label each "food unit" (i.e., each bean pod, each tomato, each ear of corn, etc) and keep records of the acquisition and disposal (purchase, or growth, and sale) on a unit-by-unit basis. This is esscentially meaning I have to have a serial number for each item I sell and will have to list this in my bookkeeping. Anybody care to do all that labeling and bookkeeping for me? for free (I do my own bookkeeping right now and don't pay myself for it because I don't make THAT much money)?

Sorry, Bill, I don't see that written into the text of S425.

You're aware that this bill amends other laws already on the books that, among other things, discuss labeling, aren't you? And that you will be able to put all those green beans in a shipping container, slap a label on it and send it off across state lines?

Wayne

quote:

Originally posted by adirondackgardener:
Sorry, Bill, I don't see that written into the text of S425.

AS written in S425:

‘‘SEC. 414A. TRACEABILITY OF FOOD.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF SYSTEM.—Not later than
3 years after the date of the enactment of this section,
the Secretary shall establish a traceability system described in subsection (b) for all stages of manufacturing,
processing, packaging, and distribution of food.
‘‘(b) DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM.—The traceability
system required by subsection (a) shall require each article of food shipped in interstate commerce to be identified in a manner that enables the Secretary to retrieve the history, use, and location of the article through a record keeping and audit system, a secure, online database, or registered identification.
‘‘(c) RECORDS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may require
that each person required to identify an article of food pursuant to subsection (b) maintain accurate records, as prescribed by the Secretary, regarding the purchase, sale, and identification of the article.
‘‘(2) ACCESS.—Each person described in paragraph (1) shall, at all reasonable times, on notice by a duly authorized representative of the Secretary, allow the representative to access each place of business of the person to examine and copy the records described in paragraph (1).
‘‘(3) DURATION.—Each person described in
paragraph (1) shall maintain records as required
under this subsection for such period of time as the Secretary prescribes.

quote:

Originally posted by adirondackgardener:

You're aware that this bill amends other laws already on the books that, among other things, discuss labeling, aren't you? And that you will be able to put all those green beans in a shipping container, slap a label on it and send it off across state lines?

Wayne

You do realize that beans, sold in bulk, constitute multiple food units, don't you? And you do realize that beans, sold at a farmers' market are almost always sold in bulk don't you?

I haven't read the entire 117 pages of the bill but it could some how affect local growers. If you have noticed or not there has been a lot of attention to legalizing marajuana. Making pot leagal would certainly help many states overcome their economic challenges at this time, so the idea looks rather enticing. In order to maintain some sort of control and regulation of the "legal" growing of marajuana certain legislation needs to be enacted in order to have control over the local grower who might be growing it for their own use or to sell. I'm sure you can see how states and local governments would not be able to fully capitalize on the legalization of pot if it can be grown easily by an individual. With certain verbage in the bill it would allow enforcement by ways of checking up on local growers, home gardeners and hydroponic gardens in order to see if they are growing pot perhaps illegally.

quote:

Originally posted by Martigan:
I haven't read the entire 117 pages of the bill but it could some how affect local growers.....I'm sure you can see how states and local governments would not be able to fully capitalize on the legalization of pot if it can be grown easily by an individual. With certain verbage in the bill it would allow enforcement by ways of checking up on local growers, home gardeners and hydroponic gardens in order to see if they are growing pot perhaps illegally.

So, now is this a conspiracy by Congress, the USDA and Monsanto to control the pot trade?

Almost too funny. My stock in Alcoa is going up every minute.

Wayne

Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 H.R. 875 would essentially transfer all state control over food regulation to the Food Safety Administration (FSA), a newly-established federal bureaucracy to be created within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Its implications point to the elimination of all independent, family farms as well as all organic farming operations due to overbearing federal regulations subjectively determined by FSA in favor of corporate factory farms.

These latest food Bills do NOT have our safety in mind. This is a move to obtain tyrannical control of the food supply.

I have read both these Bills and they serve Monsanto and agribusiness interests. There are vague definitions in the bills to give wide reaching scope.

Please do not support these Bills. They are NOT truly public safety related. They are designed to benefit large agribusiness and hurt small farming.

Who sponsored this HR875 Bill: Rosa DeLauro.

1. Her husband, Stan Greenberg, has Monsanto as a client.
2. She received $180k in donations from agribusiness PAC's.

Paul Turner

Muwahahahahahaha. You have found me out at last. I, the one and only Great Tyrant, am taking over the food supply and confiscating anything that tastes like chocolate. I am forcing every leaf of brussels sprouts to have a tracking chip so I can know where it is, including in your small intestine. All this information will be aired on a special cable channel for nosy old ladies who like to know where everything is. And may I say again, muwahahahahahaha.

(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.

It's interesting to see how many 'get it' and understand how we are being boiled like frogs (starts off in cold water and slowly heated till done). Read the bill and don't expect they will stop there...they never do. Just look at the National Animal Identification Act (NAIS). They start by saying it, and premises ID's are "voluntary", then (through color of law) become "mandatory", then legislation makes they mandatory by law, at least until overturned in court (unless it's a Monsanto case tried in their home territory, St. Louis, Missouri. Folks, we are in trouble.

FFYY
www.FoodFromYourYard.com

Hello, I am Paul Turner and have been involved in organic gardening for many years. I am a past President of the Central Ohio Organic Gardeners Club. I have all the back issues of Rodale Press Organic Gardening and Farming magazine. Perhaps this dates me, I am hoping so.

Concerning the Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act S425 and Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 HR875; I have read both these Bills and they both contain vague and overlapping definitions which can easily be applied to the smallest grower.

H.R. 875 would essentially transfer all state control over food regulation to the Food Safety Administration (FSA), a newly-established federal bureaucracy to be created within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Its implications point to the elimination of independent, family farms as well as organic farming operations due to overbearing federal regulations subjectively determined by FSA in favor of corporate factory farms.

Do we really want or need further government intervention on the growing of food?
Paul Turner

Paul, do you mean S425?

Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act S425
Yes, and thank you.

These Bills are overlapping and together they really do spell trouble.

Paul Turner

If you want an in depth breakdown of Food Bill HR 875 email me - pturner1@columbus.rr.com

Below is from "A Walk Through HR 875", written by Sue Diederich and Linn Cohen-Cole:

"THEY NEVER MENTION SEEDS BUT THIS IS PRECISELY HOW THEY WILL CRIMINALIZE SEED BANKING AND ALL HOLDINGS OF SEEDS.

[Notice they mention harvesting, sorting and storage operations, then watch below.

To follow how this will be done, you must understand that:

1. there is a small list inside the FDA called "sources of seed contamination"
2. in which they have now defined "seed" as food,
3. so seeds can be controlled under "food safety."
Those seeds (so far) include:

seeds eaten raw such as flax, poppy sesame, etc.;
sprouting seeds such as wheat, beans, alfalfa, most greens, etc.;
seeds pressed into oils such as corn, sunflower, canola, etc.;
seeds used as animal feed such as soy ....

That is most seeds. Seeds are essential to life and thus to freedom.

The "sources of seed contamination" include six little items:

agricultural water
manure (but NOT chemical pesticides or fertilizers)
harvesting, transporting and seed cleaning equipment
seed storage facilities

What you must realize is that seed cleaning equipment is THE single most critical piece of equipment for sustainable agriculture. It is how we save organic seed. It is the machinery used after plants "go to seed" to separate out (sort) the seeds from the plant material so the farmer can collect (harvest) and then save (put in storage) seed for the next year at little cost. With his own seed, the farmer stays free of patented, genetically engineered, corporately privatized seeds.

You must also understand that Monsanto is getting rid of the people who do the seed cleaning and many other means of our having access to seed .

This year, 2009, seed cleaning equipment is now illegal in some parts of the country which tips us off to both the intent to control seeds in this way and to how they could do things under this bill.

How can they make such vital equipment illegal? Quietly, and by saying it contaminates food.

"Contaminate" is their favorite word since the public fears the deadly contamination that industry itself - not farmers - has caused. Scare the public and thus push for "food safety standards" to be set.

And to eliminate seed cleaning equipment, they haven now set the standards so seed cleaning (the simple separation of seed from plant) will now require a million to a million and a half dollar building and/or equipment ... per line of seed.

So, a farmer who has been seed cleaning flax for 40 years with a hand made seed cleaner can't sell flax on the market anymore, though there are NO instances of anyone ever having gotten sick from seed cleaning equipment. A farmer who has been cleaning wheat, corn and soy each year with the same perfectly fine equipment would now need three to four and half million dollars for three pieces of equipment to continue."

quote:

Originally posted by WilsonPWT:
If you want an indepth breakdown of Food Bill HR 875 email me - pturner1@columbus.rr.com

....This year, 2009, seed cleaning equipment is now illegal in some parts of the country which tips us off to both the intent to control seeds in this way and to how they could do things under this bill.

I was going to ask you for some reference to verify the above but decided to do a quick search myself to try to find some documentation about your claim that "This year, 2009, seed cleaning equipment is now illegal in some parts of the country..."

To my surprise, I found that your entire post is just a cut and paste job from someone else's work. Your post seems to bave been written entirely by Sue Diederich and Linn Cohen-Cole in a piece called "A Walk Through HR 875." I didn't see Paul Turner's name anywhere on the piece.

How about putting quotes around the passages or, in your case, whole posts that you are talking from someone else and giving an attribute to the actual author? It would make more sense to contact the person that may have researched a subject and ask him or her a question than to waste time asking someone who simply cuts and pastes others' writing.

Just a thought.

Wayne