Small Businesses Fret Over Food-Safety Rules

WSJ ^ | 4/22/2011 | STEPHANIE GLEASON

[Qbert]

When Congress revamped food-safety laws last year, small farmers and food producers won a victory when they were excluded from many of the new rules.

Now, as the Food and Drug Administration implements the new Food Safety Modernization Act, the small businesses are hoping they aren't snagged by the new rules anyway.

The legislation, which updates 100-year-old food-safety regulations, does not apply to meat, eggs or dairy products, which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Despite the exemption, it's still unclear how small food producers will be affected, said Robert Guenther, senior vice president of public policy for the United Fresh Produce Association.

The law exempts very small businesses from many of the new regulations, including developing hazard analyses and implementing preventive measures like a food allergen control program, a recall plan and a pathogen monitoring program. The exemption is designed to apply to small businesses selling less than $500,000 in the same state within 275 miles of the food production.

But the exact details of the exemption will be determined by the FDA. Farms that are considered processing facilities—which could mean anything from bundling lettuce to full scale production—would be required to follow the new regulations. All farms, no matter the size, will be affected by new produce production regulations.

Mary Lou Surgi runs Blue Ridge Food Ventures, a non-profit industrial kitchen for small businesses in North Carolina, and she's concerned about the final details. Hiring a consultant to produce a hazard analysis could cost each business thousands of dollars, she said, and for microbiological testing, the only lab they've found to do it charges $250 a test...

[Snip]

The amount of profit on $500,000 in sales can vary greatly for small businesses, Ms. Surgi said. In addition, the distance restrictions close off viable markets.

[Crim]

Not about safety...it’s about control.

[Qbert]

Indeed.

And in the process, it will likely drive up the price of food products even more as businesses pass the cost of compliance on to customers. The idiocy never ends.

[familyop]

"But the exact details of the exemption will be determined by the FDA. Farms that are considered processing facilities—which could mean anything from bundling lettuce to full scale production—would be required to follow the new regulations. All farms, no matter the size, will be affected by new produce production regulations. "

"...bundling lettuce?" What's that? And "full scale production" means? The author is lying. Lies aren't right, even in the efforts of the manufacturers of "sugar bombs" or whatever, to drag small farmers into their politics. Big corporates love regulations that keep potential small competition down. They don't like it, when their political efforts backfire.

[familyop]

"Despite the exemption, it's still unclear how small food producers will be affected, said Robert Guenther, senior vice president of public policy for the United Fresh Produce Association."

The United Fresh Produce Association opposed the Tester Amendment to exempt small farms. Those liars won't be successful in their attempt to push the FDA into regulating against small farms despite the Law.

I've personally fought big corporates, as they tried to outlaw new small business starts in local commissioners' meetings for decades. They are quite bipartisan, and they've been trying to outlaw new competition for a very long time.

[familyop]

Also cited in the propaganda piece, a bowl of fruits and nuts.

Center for Science
in the Public Interest
http://www.undueinfluence.com/cspi.htm

[familyop]

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, BTW, was on the side of big corporate interests like the Grocery Manufacturers of America in pushing S.510: the food safety bill. Again, it was their effort to prevent any competition from small businesses.

[tubebender]

Ping...

[Alberta's Child]

There was a story posted just yesterday about how these new FDA regulations drove a peanut producer in New York City to move their operations to Pennsylvania rather than put a lot of money into their NYC facility to meet the regulations.

So now the peanuts sold at Yankee Stadium are produced in Pennsylvania rather than five miles away in the South Bronx.

Go figure.