Tag Archives: regulation

We don’t need no stinkin’ regs; Alaska Rep. sponsors bill to do away with most safe food regulations

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The Daily News-Miner reports a bill introduced by North Pole Republican Rep. Tammie Wilson would do away with much of the state’s safety regulations for food sold directly to consumers in an attempt to grow Alaska’s local food industry and farmers markets.

That has health officials worried. House Bill 202, which was heard in the House Labor and Commerce Committee this week, would remove safety regulations not only for the traditional farmers market fare but also for potentially hazardous foods like seafood, shellfish, poultry, meat, dairy and any other processed foods.
Currently, the Department of Environmental Conservation has no regulations for direct-to-consumer food sales for raw fruits and vegetables, syrup, honey and jam. But the state does have safety regulations on most other processed foods and raw foods where there’s a potential for dangerous bacteria to make it to the consumer.

But Wilson feels that expenses like permits and equipment are stifling the development of local food. Instead, she said the consumer should take responsibility for the food they eat.

“We just think that there’s something called responsibility that is here,” she said during the committee hearing. “I don’t think government is there to keep us safe from absolutely everything, you can’t protect everybody from everything.”

She said, instead, that the state should take an education-based approach to food safety.

Wilson’s bill would require sellers to provide a card that alerts the consumer that “This product has not been inspected by any governmental agency and may be harmful to your health.”

Environmental Health Director Kristin Ryan who testified against the bill’s sweeping changes, said, “People buy food under the assumption that it’s safe to eat. Yes, people should have personal responsibility. But when there’s some clear risk, it’s our responsibility to protect against that risk.”

Live Free or Die (hard): New Hampshire House bill seeks to exempt N.H. food from federal safety rules

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NHBR reports that a bill that would exempt foods produced and sold in New Hampshire from federal food safety regulations is running into opposition from some of the very groups the bill says it would help.

A hearing on House Bill 1650 is scheduled for Friday. Sponsored by Rep. Josh Davenport, R-Newmarket, the measure would establish a "Made in New Hampshire" brand for foods that are grown or produced in the state.

Under the bill, so long as those foodstuffs were labeled as being "Made in New Hampshire" and sold only within the state, they would be subject only to state regulations and exempt from federal regulations.

Bill sponsors say it would promote the state’s agricultural economy, help small farmers and expand access to fresh, healthy foods.

But the New Hampshire Farm Bureau Federation, which represents the interests of farmers in the state, has come out in opposition to the bill, which it said "goes too far."

"There does need to be some oversight, and we recognize that," said Rob Johnson, executive director of the Farm Bureau.

In writing the bill, he said, "they really haven’t talked to the farmers on this."

"The real concern here is that we have all manner of onerous federal regulations coming down the pike that are making it illegal to do certain types of business in this state," said Rep. Andrew Manuse, R-Derry, who co-sponsored and helped write HB 1650.

Added Davenport: "The state of New Hampshire is perfectly capable of ensuring the safety of its own small farms and food production businesses."

Lorraine Merrill, the state’s agriculture commissioner said concerns, "relate to food safety and the reputation of New Hampshire food and products."

Merrill also called into question just how enforceable the bill would be, since it would be difficult to stop farmers along the border from selling their food out of state.

All it would take is for one of these "Made in New Hampshire"-labeled foods to be contaminated and make someone sick to damage the reputation of all food made in the state, said Johnson of the Farm Bureau.

Thou shalt not sell unsafe food’ underpins Canadian food safety regs if not smothered by bureaucrats

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“Shifting to outcomes-based and transparent regulations aims to establish clear expectations regarding risk management outcomes to be achieved.”

That is how government-types captured the mindset of regulators in a discussion paper released in Dec. 2011 in advance of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s most extensive regulatory review in its 14-year history.

Barry Wilson of The Western Producer reports CFIA is promising more modern, industry-friendly rules, switching the emphasis from setting objectives and policing compliance to emphasizing prevention and allowing industry to reach the objectives without excessive regulatory direction. ?

“Modernized regulatory frameworks will improve consistency and reduce complexity in regulation and will enhance the ability of the CFIA and regulated parties to contribute to the safety of the food supply and the protection of the animal and plant resource bases.”

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Brian Evans, Canada’s chief food safety officer and chief veterinarian, said change is necessary and the review is part of a government-wide demand for smarter regulations.

The underlying theme of the system will remain, “thou shalt not sell unsafe food.”

Much better.

Is USDA moving too slow in salmonella probe?

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First the company plays the Pinto defense – we meet all government standards – and now the local paper lashes out at government incompetence.

What’s missing is any concern for people sickened by salmonella-in-beef sold by Hannaford and the responsibility any retailer has to provide safe food.

Earlier this week, Department of Agriculture investigators said they were hampered by lousy records and procedures at retailer Hannaford.

The Portland Press Herald says today the regulatory response to the outbreak, “looks like a horse and buggy operation. … federal authorities have not been able to shed much light on what happened before the meat was sold, with one official blaming the supermarket chain’s practice of mixing beef from different sources when it grinds it into hamburger.”

The editorial rightly says that if the mixing practice is risky, it should be prevented everywhere and that outbreaks require “thorough and transparent investigations and timely communication with the public.” But it also states that because meat is likely to cross state lines multiple times before it is put on a dinner table, regulating it is a federal responsibility.

Regulating is one aspect of responsibility. But the ultimate responsibility for safe food lies with producers and retailers and whoever is making the profit from the sale of food.

I look forward to more transparent and public communications from Hannaford.

29 dead, 133 sick linked to whole cantaloupes from Jensen Farms, Colorado; state pushes for stronger oversight

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As the number of illnesses and deaths linked to Colorado cantaloupe continues to climb, the state said it will promote stronger oversight of its cantaloupe industry helping farmers create a certified label potentially backed by safety training, auditing and lab testing for pathogens.

State Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar told the Denver Post the measures — now under discussion with farmers and agriculture experts — could help right the melon business after 28 deaths and one miscarriage from Jensen Farms cantaloupes.

Salazar acknowledged, though, that the state does not have new resources to fund such a certification program. A new system would rely on budget shifts or payments from the farms themselves, as other industries currently do.

• A "Colorado Proud" label, or even one specific to the Rocky Ford area, could be used by farmers who meet certain criteria.

• Standards to earn the label would include undergoing safety training created by Colorado State University, and proof of outside audits of how those safety practices are carried out.

• CSU extension facilities in southeastern Colorado are capable of lab testing; depending on the response time on results, farms could seek a pathogen-free lab test before harvest and possibly additional lab tests during the short cantaloupe shipping season.

Kuwait gets serious about food safety; punish those who distribute contaminated or expired food

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Government officials have publicly expressed concern that public health has become a minor issue, consequences are meaningless, and the sale of dodgy food is on the rise.

How refreshing.

In what country would bureaucrats make such bold statements to potentially upset the ruling food safety oligarchy of industry, auditors and regulators? U.S.? Canada? U.K.? Australia? Anywhere?

Kuwait.

Arba Times reports the Chairman of the Consumer Protection Society Attorney Faisal Al-Sebaie expressed his disappointed over the mediocre measures taken by the relevant authorities to protect public health from greedy traders, who sell spoilt or contaminated food products in the local market.

Al-Sebaie lamented the public health has become a minor issue for the concerned authorities, especially the ministries of Social Affairs, Labor and Commerce, leading to the spread of contaminated or expired food products in the local market.

He said no strict measure has so far been taken to prevent the distribution of contaminated or expired food items because the government has opted to remain silent over the unscrupulous activities of greedy traders.

He wondered why a country as rich as Kuwait cannot establish a modern laboratory to conduct tests on the imported food items.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General of the society Attorney Khalid Al-Dosri appealed to the government to immediately take strict measures against those proven to have violated the food safety regulations. He thinks the Ministry of Commerce is keen only on arresting the owners of small shops, which sell spoilt food products, while disregarding the violations committed by business tycoons.

Moreover, Chairman of the Social Committee at the society Khalid Al-Sebaei wondered why the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor dissolved the boards of directors of 13 cooperative societies allegedly for engaging in corruption and manipulating prices without putting them in jail. He urged the ministry to obligate the cooperative societies to submit financial and administrative reports quarterly to prevent, if not eliminate, the violations.

Recycling politically convenient foodborne illness myths

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There are some recurring myths in the public discussion of foodborne illness and the reasons 76 million Americans barf every year from the food and water they consume, and the New York Times is recycling them all.

Author Eric Schlosser (“Unsafe at Any Meal,” New York Times, Op-Ed, July 25) overstates the protective role of government while casting aspersions against what he calls industrial agricultural and unchecked corporate power. His rant on the Colbert Report last year was legendary.

Henry Miller who used to do biotechnology work at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration writes in the Times this morning, “The vast majority of food poisoning is caused by individuals’ mishandling of food; common lapses include the mishandling or undercooking of poultry and the inadequate refrigeration of food. More expansive, expensive, onerous regulation is not the answer; better education of consumers is.”

Our review of the data found a complete mish-mash about where “the vast majority of food poisoning illness is caused” and that no conclusions could be drawn. Produce, pot pies, pet food and pizzas don’t have much to do with consumers. And how would this better education be conducted?

If someone wrote in and said Americans have the safest food supply in the world, all the big three mythologies would be represented.

Food safety is not simple and the public discussion – which affects individual behaviors from farm-to-fork – is a mess.
 

Raw-food raid highlights a hunger; ‘how can we not have the freedom to choose what we eat?’ one says. Regulators say the rules exist for safety and fairness

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Watch the police in this action video raiding an organic grocery store. I was hoping one of them would hold their gun sideways so I’d really know they were serious as they walked through crates of arugula.

With no warning one weekday morning, investigators entered an organic grocery with a search warrant and ordered the hemp-clad workers to put down their buckets of mashed coconut cream and to step away from the nuts.

Then, guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome Foods in Venice. Skirting past the arugula and peering under crates of zucchini, they found the raid’s target inside a walk-in refrigerator: unmarked jugs of raw milk.

The Los Angeles Times has a feature on Sunday about how cartons of raw goat and cow milk and blocks of unpasteurized goat cheese were among the groceries seized in the June 30 raid by federal, state and local authorities — the latest salvo in the heated food fight over what people can put in their mouths.

On one side are government regulators, who say they are enforcing rules designed to protect consumers from unsafe foods and to provide a level playing field for producers. On the other side are "healthy food" consumers — a faction of foodies who challenge government science and seek food in its most pure form.

"This is not about restricting the public’s rights," said Nicole Neeser, program manager for dairy, meat and poultry inspection at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. "This is about making sure people are safe."

In the case of Rawesome, regulators allege that the group broke the law by failing to have the proper permits to sell food to the public. While the raid was happening at Rawesome, another went down at one of its suppliers, Healthy Family Farms in Ventura County. California agriculture officials said farm owner Sharon Palmer’s processing plant had not met standards to obtain a license.
 

10-year-old’s salsa business gets visit from Calif. health department

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The spirit of a crazed Glenn Beck has been transferred to the Sacramento Bee where the paper reports how 10-year-old Diego Bartolome just wanted to start a salsa business to help his mom after she lost her job and instead got a crash course in red tape.

The story says that Bartolome co-founded a hot little salsa company, grossing $1,000 from his Diego’s Awesome Salsa by December and landing accounts at grocery stores. The salsa boy also got a taste of the media spotlight, with a profile in The Bee and an appearance on Channel 31’s "Good Day Sacramento."

Then the food police paid him and his mom a visit. An inspector from the state Department of Public Health noticed in a TV segment that Diego’s Awesome Salsa wasn’t labeled properly, and there were possible temperature-control issues.

Diego’s Awesome Salsa got accounts at grocery stores? Who was the third-party auditor that approved a supplier that hadn’t passed even basic health code requirements?

NC mom wants tougher food regulations after listeria in cheese caused illness

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Erin Stadler was at her baby shower when she at a piece of brie cheese that was contaminated with Listeria. The disease made Stadler and her unborn child deathly ill.

"You don’t think about eating one piece of cheese and almost dying. That’s basically, what happened for both of us," said Stadler.

The disease came as a surprise to Stadler in 1997 because up until her baby shower, she had a normal, healthy pregnancy. However, shortly after the party, she began to feel the symptoms of the disease.

When Stadler went to the hospital, doctors immediately delivered baby Allison. She was premature at 33 weeks and weighed just 4 pounds, 33 ounces. Allison was in the hospital for two more weeks for additional tests when doctors realized how ill both Erin and Allison were.

Stadler will be traveling to Washington D.C. next week to talk with senators about passing tougher food regulations. Allison, now a healthy 13-years-old girl will travel to Washington with her mom to discuss a proposed bill called S-510.