Free Republic

The Food Safety Bill s510, considered both influential and controversial, was just passed in the Senate. This comes almost a year and a half after the House passed a bill calling to tighten the nation’s food safety rules. It will be the first time in 70 years that the FDA’s food safety system will be modernized. The bill will permit the FDA to increase inspections of food producers, track fruit and vegetable shipments and place stricter manufacturing standards to attempt to avoid outbreaks of contamination. Some highly respected health experts are in fact on both sides of the debate—Michael Pollan...

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111thCongress - 2nd Session as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the SenateVote Summary Question: On the Motion to Proceed (Motion to Proceed to S. 510 ) Vote Number: 251 Vote Date: November 18, 2010, 05:59 PM Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Motion to Proceed Agreed to Measure Number: S. 510 (FDA Food Safety Modernization Act ) Measure Title: A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the safety of the food supply. Vote Counts: YEAs 57...

Introduced by Dick Durbin of Illinois, the bill has moved through the usual phases of amalgamation and deal-making. The monstrosity advancing to the floor on Wednesday is not so much "food safety" as it is the decadence of the rights of small farmers, hobbyist food producers, garden-variety farmers markets, and your average small producer of foodstuffs. Under the rubric of safety, this Senate proposes a bill that establishes such new and sweeping powers over how you and I produce and consume foodstuffs that even the Pew Charitable Trusts are calling S510 a clear and present danger.