Obama to sign bill to improve nation's food safety

reply to post by kwakakev

It is great to see Obama starting to stand up to industry a bit more, the FDA was looking like a corporate lackey...

Are you out of your FREAKIN' MIND!!!

Please people Do some research.

This bill is NOT about food Safety. It is a Trojan Horse. It is about allowing the Ag Cartel to wipe out independent farmers and corner complete control of food world wide.

The whole "food borne illness" crud was a set up from the get go.

1995 World Trade Organization Agreement on Ag written by VP of Cargill
1996 Adoption of international HACCP regs

* “Under HACCP, the agency will implement a ‘Hands Off’ role in meat inspection.
* “Under HACCP, the agency will no longer police the industry, but the industry will police itself.
* “Under HACCP, the agency will disband its previous command and control authority.
* “Under HACCP, each plant will write its own HACCP Plan, and the agency cannot tell plants what must be in their HACCP Plans.”

...The plant would be responsible for the implementation of the plan.

As a result, the inspector was no longer responsible for what was happening on the plant floor: that was left to company personnel. The new role of the inspector was to make sure that plant personnel were carrying out their duties in a manner consistent with the HACCP plan. In many cases this amounted to making sure that all of the paper work was in the proper order. www.agpolicy.org...

The results were a sharp spike UP in food borne illnesses and a sharp spike UP in the number of small food processing plants that bankrupted.

Now the new law will wipe out farmers using red tape, huge fines for the wrong paper work and up to 10 years in jail. A dairy farmer in England reported it takes 60% of his time to just do the required paperwork. All of his neighbors have quit.

I PRAY and HOPE American farmers have the guts to stand up to the idiot city dwellers and SAY ENOUGH! NO MORE FOOD!

This is not an idle threat either, ESPECIALLY since the AVERAGE age of our farmers is 53. There are 2.1 million farms in the USA. Out of that entire 2.1 million perhaps 70,000 or less are full time farmers. Actually in 50 years of hanging around farms, farmers markets and auctions, going to an Ag school, I have yet to meet a farmer who did not have a second job.

Now IF you had another job AND you knew that you had to deal with tons of incomprehensible paperwork and testing or face fines and possible jail time, WOULD you bother farming?

Many of the Cattle farmers I know have 30 cows out on pasture with a stream for water and toss them some corn now and then. Many of this guys are long distance truckers. Now put your self in his place:

Here is a sample of what the OIE wants for raising cows and other animals. The FDA has already stated it will be "Harmonizing" with these international standards. The is a small same of the thirteen page guideline. The New law also includes a lot of laboratory analysis on top of this.

EXCEPTS FROM:
Guide to good farming practices for animal production food safety
OIE Animal Production Food Safety Working Group
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), 12 rue de Prony, 75017 Paris, France

The guidelines presented here cover eight areas of primary production in which preventive actions can usefully be implemented; they are, as follows:
a) buildings and other facilities: surroundings and environmental control
b) health conditions for introduction of animals into the farm
c)animal feeding
d) animal watering
e) veterinary drugs
f) farm management
g) preparation of animals for slaughter
h) common measures for record keeping and traceability....

correctly isolated from pests and from wild or stray animals, and from other domestic animals as appropriate TRANSLATION High double fencing with a minimum of three feet between the fences, so that deer can not jump or rabbits can not dig under, Get rid of dogs, cats and other pets. This is from a USDA vet to me when I ran a petting farm.

...arranged so as to allow easy disinfection of areas used by professional visitors (veterinarian, animal or feed deliverers, milk or egg collectors, carcass disposal agents, etc.)

...arranged so as to make access difficult for unauthorised persons or vehicles (barriers, fences, signs) [Prison gates anyone?]

...using inert construction and surface materials that cannot be a potential source of contamination (prohibit the use of lead paint) [sounds like wood is not allowed)

...keep samples of purchased feed for any subsequent analytical testing should a problem of residues be identified at the farm production level [This means a LARGE freezer since the feed spoils in a few moths]

in the case of bulk feed, do not mix two batches of feed in the same container (separate hoppers) have the composition of the manufactured feed checked at least once a year (correct dosages of the various ingredients, presence of any contaminants)

...keep an up-to-date register of feed delivered and used (batch numbers and dates of use)

Common measures for record keeping and traceability
An identification and traceability system for animals, their feed and products...

For each animal or group of animals, require and keep all commercial and health documents enabling their exact itinerary to be traced from their farm or establishment of origin to their final destination (other farm or abattoir)

establish a data-recording system that can be used to ascertain exactly which batches of commercial feed the farm’s livestock were fed with and what raw materials were used in feed manufactured on the farm and given to the animals. Keep samples of all the feed used hygienic

establish a data-recording system that can be used to ascertain the exact origin (animal batch) and destination of l inspectionanimal products produced by the farm departments of – keep all these documents and records and place them at

the disposal of the competent authority (Veterinary Services).

Record keeping
Keep a record of all persons entering the farm: visitors, service staff and farm professionals (veterinarian, milk tester, inseminator, feed deliverer, carcass disposal agent, etc.)

keep the medical certificates of persons working in contact with animals and any document certifying their qualifications and training

keep, for each animal or group of animals, all documents relating to the treatment and veterinary actions

keep all laboratory reports, including bacteriological tests and sensitivity tests (data to be placed at the disposal of the veterinarian responsible for treating the animals)

keep all documents proving that the bacteriological and physico-chemical quality of the water given to the animals is regularly tested

keep all records of all feed manufacture procedures and manufacturing records for each batch of feed

keep detailed records of any application of chemical products to fields, pastures and grain silos, as well as the dates that animals are put out to grass and on which plots of land

keep all the records relating to the cleaning and disinfection procedures used in the farm (including data sheets for each detergent or disinfectant used) as well as all the records showing that these procedures have effectively been implemented (job sheets, self-inspection checks on the effectiveness of the operations) and animal products

keep documents relating to the pest control plan (including the data sheets for each raticide and insecticide used) as well as all the records showing that the control plan has effectively been implemented (plan showing the location of baits and insecticide diffusers, self-inspection checks on the effectiveness of the plan)

keep all the documents relating to self-inspections (by the livestock producer) and controls (by the authorities and other official bodies) relating to the proper management of the farm and the sanitary and hygienic quality of the animal products leaving it

keep all documents sent by the official inspection services (distributors or the quality control departments of food-processing firms) relating to anomalies detected at the abattoir, dairy, processing plant or during the distribution of products (meat, eggs, milk, fish, etc.) derived from the farm’s animals

ensure that all these documents are kept long enough to enable any subsequent investigations to be carried out to determine whether contamination of food products detected at the secondary production or distribution stage was due to a dysfunction at the primary production level

place all these documents and records at the disposal of the competent authority (Veterinary Services) when it conducts farm visits.

Source: www.oie.int/eng/publicat/rt/2502/review25-2BR/25-berlingueri823-836.pdf
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reply to post by crimvelvet


I can't believe it took two pages for someone to get it. Did everyone forget HR 510 the day after it was signed into law? This money is going to go to new officials who drive around and shut down your local farmers markets, produce stands, small animal auctions, ect. That's all this money does. Wake up people!! Try and remember travesties for at least a little while after they're rammed through... -_-

reply to post by PayMeh

I can't believe it took two pages for someone to get it....

Unfortunately they will only "get it" (without Vaseline) when the Ag cartel finishes killing off the independent farmers world wide and re-introduces Feudalism. 75% are already gone in Mexico thanks to NAFTA and food riots followed.

(Monsanto is already out trying to buy up Organic farms according to one ATSer. 85% of the shares in Monsanto are controled by "Financiers" like the Johnson family (Fidelity and Magellan Funds) My Farrier said the Japanese are going door to door in Oklahoma buying ranchland. One of the top five slaughter houses internationally is Japanese.)

Our only hope is a massive strike by the American farmers. Unfortunately I do not think it will happen. The economic depression and the real estate bubble bursting were also part of the plan just to make sure we were too busy trying to survive while they hustled a bunch of Unconstitutional laws through Congress.

First of all the whole blasted thing was a set-up by the bankers to scam the tax payers - so what else is new?

Many of us think the actual target this time is America's rich farmland. Last time in 1933 the bankers confiscated all of the American Citizen's gold. All we have left now is our land since our manufacturing base has already been packed up and shipped overseas - literally. I know a guy in Boston who dismantled and packed up factories for a living!

Remember the bankers control the economy by controlling money. As Milton Friedman said:

“I know of no severe depression, in any country or any time, that was not accompanied by a sharp decline in the stock of money, and equally of no sharp decline in the stock of money that was not accompanied by a severe depression.” www.themoneymasters.com...

Eustace Mullins goes even further in his Secrets of the Federal Reserve and gives some blow by blow accounts of how the bankers manipulated the system to periodically "shear the sheep"

Commenter Byron states on 21 January 2010:

If the readers examine the St. Louis Federal Reserve graph of the M1 money supply (http//research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M1), they will note that whenever the Fed maintains a restrictive monetary policy (flat M1 growth rate) the economy enters a recession. The evidence is particularly striking for the 2008 recession. From 2003 to the fourth quarter of 2008, the Fed restricted the growth of M1; the result was the 2008 recession.

The Fed knows fully well that they created the recession as demonstrated by their subsequent loosening of M1 growth.

Milton Freedman and Anna Schwartz were correct in their assessments of money. www.thefreemanonline.org...

So there is plenty of evidence that the banks created this recession on purpose. All we have to do is figure out WHY.

More proof in my post here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by crimvelvet


From the news item posted:

Advocates of buying locally sourced food and small-farm operators criticized the bill, saying the new requirements could force some of them into bankruptcy. Senators eventually agreed to exempt some of those operations from the costly food safety plans required of bigger companies, but that move upset food safety advocates and larger growers. Those exemptions are in the bill Obama was signing.

So the small independent operators can breath a sigh of relief. Again, I am not sure of all the technicalities but on the surface it looks like a positive move. I have spent some time on a large scale production farm and most of the regulations you posted looked like pretty standard stuff for them. As for each larger company developing its own HACCP Plan, it does make sense as each company is different and lots of ways to farm. Having some government oversight and review to check that the plans have meet some basic criteria, are reasonable and followed sounds like government is playing the role of umpire as it should. It is good that you have been vigilant in what has been going on, keep it up.

Originally posted by kwakakev

So the small independent operators can breath a sigh of relief.

That is what people have been lead to believe. Unfortunately it is not true.

EVERYONE is covered. Small operators just get a separate set of rules that is all. (See bottom of post for excepts from Tester Amendment) Remember what Paul Warburg said of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

Warburg's associates said, "Paul, what are you doing? We don't want those in there this is our bill." And his response was this, he said, "Relax fellas, don't you get it? Our object is to get the bill passed. We can fix it up later." Those were his exact words. "We can fix it up later."

He was so right. It was because of those provisions that they won over the support of William Jennings Bryan... never dreaming that this was temporary.

Everything is temporary in politics. When people go to sleep things can get changed.

Warburg was right and they fixed it up later. The Federal Reserve Act since it was passed has been amended over 100 times. Every one of those provisions were long ago removed...
www.bigeye.com...

I do not even know if the Tester Amendment got removed when they whipped the bill back through Congress the second time.

The biggest concern is the Commerce Clause which was in the original bill HR785. The Supreme Court has already ruled that food grown for home use " affected interstate commerce" and therefore the USDA has the right to control that food. As a lawyer commented on one of the food sites, a word, a phrase, a punctuation mark all have hidden legal meanings. The Commerce clause is one of the phrases she was talking about.

HR 875 included this: "in any action to enforce the requirements of the food safety law, the connection with interstate commerce required for jurisdiction SHALL BE PRESUMED TO EXIST."

Wickard v. Filburn got to the Supreme Court, and in 1942, the justices unanimously ruled against the farmer. The government claimed that if Mr. Filburn grew wheat for his own use, he would not be buying it — and that affected interstate commerce. It also argued that if the price of wheat rose, which is what the government wanted, Mr. Filburn might be tempted to sell his surplus wheat in the interstate market, thwarting the government's objective. The Supreme Court bought it

The Court's opinion must be quoted to be believed:
[The wheat] supplies a need of the man who grew it which would otherwise be reflected by purchases in the open market. Home-grown wheat in this sense competes with wheat in commerce.

As Epstein commented, "Could anyone say with a straight face that the consumption of home-grown wheat is 'commerce among the several states?'"

FDA’s Views on Food Freedom of Choice

For those who think it’s a good idea to give FDA more power, here are the agency’s views on your freedom to obtain the foods of your choice; these are direct quotations from the agency’s response to a lawsuit the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund filed earlier this year...

* "There is no absolute right to consume or feed children any particular food." [A--p. 25]
* "There is no 'deeply rooted' historical tradition of unfettered access to foods of all kinds." [A--p. 26]
* "Plaintiffs' assertion of a 'fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families' is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish." [A--p. 26]
"There is no fundamental right to freedom of contract." [A--p. 27]

tester.senate.gov...

‘‘(2) EXEMPTION.—A qualified facility—
‘‘(A) shall not be subject to the requirements under subsections (a) through (i) and
subsection (n) in an applicable calendar year; and

‘‘(B) shall submit to the Secretary—
‘‘(i)(I) documentation that demonstrates that the owner, operator, or agent in charge of the facility has identified potential hazards associated with the food being produced, is implementing preventive controls to address the hazards, and is monitoring the preventive controls to ensure that such controls are effective;

or

‘‘(II) documentation (which may include licenses, inspection reports, certificates, permits, credentials, certification by an appropriate agency (such as a State department of agriculture), or other evidence of oversight), as specified by the Secretary, that the facility is in compliance with State, local, county, or other applicable non-Federal food safety law; and

‘‘(ii) documentation, as specified by the Secretary in a guidance document issued not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, that the facility is a qualified facility under paragraph (1)(B) or (1)(C).

‘‘(3) WITHDRAWAL; RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the event of an active investigation of a foodborne illness out-break that is directly linked to a qualified facility subject to an exemption under this sub- section, or if the Secretary determines that it is necessary to protect the public health and prevent or mitigate a foodborne illness outbreak based on conduct or conditions associated with a qualified facility that are material to the safety of the food manufactured, processed, packed, or held at such facility, the Secretary may withdraw the exemption provided to such facility under this subsection...

From S510

Under section 105(a)-Sec. 419a(3)(B), any proposed rulemaking for produce safety standards shall “include, with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting, packing and storage operations, science-based minimum standards related to soil amendments, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animals in the growing area in the farm.

CONSTITUTION:

** The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. **

reply to post by crimvelvet

‘‘(3) WITHDRAWAL; RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.— ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.— In the event of an active investigation... Secretary may withdraw the exemption provided to such facility under this subsection

From the information you supplied it sounds like some Secretary desecration has been granted to determine for how far investigations go. This can work for and against both independent farmers, large companies and all in between. What is important is how this power is used. I may be wrong in this assessment and would like a legal opinion of the recent changes if so.

I very much understand a lot of the fear that has been generated in relation to the food and other bills. There is a very deep and complex problem going on www.abovetopsecret.com... . Since releasing this assessment a week or two ago I have noticed a lot of positive changes start to take place. When Obama went into office he had a corrupt system to work with, now this system is coming under a lot closer scrutiny and problems are being identified. The American system of government is a complex system that has taken a long time to develop, positive change will take time to work through. There are a lot of people that are affected by the decisions that this institution produces. It does help if you work with people in a similar position to produce a collective voice that the government can hear above all the noise that it has to process.

In a nut shell, The American system of governance was subject to an experiment in market based politics. This has been shown to fail as industry needs was placed above the populations needs. It is going to take time and cool heads to fix this and turn it around. I have been encouraged by the progress that has already been made in this short period of time.

Everything is temporary in politics. When people go to sleep things can get changed.

When the people wake up things can get changed as well.