With new legislation making its way through Congress, small farms, organic farmers and even your average backyard gardener could be placed under direct control of the Federal Government. That’s right sister, Uncle Sam is going to tell you how to grow your tomatoes..jpg)
House Resolution 875, or the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, was introduced in early February, is still sitting in committee and who knows when it will hit the Floor. When it does, I wonder if it will actually be read or be swept through like all the other bills in the last 9 years. This is downright scary…
Some of the requirements set forth within H.R. 875 include:
- Designating( another newly created agency) FSA as sole regulator of food safety rather than the individual states, including granting FSA the power to implement and administer a "national system for regular unannounced inspection of food establishments" under its own terms.
- Reclassifying all farms as "food production facilities", ensuring they come under the regulatory and inspection protocols of FSA as well as enforcing compliance with whatever FSA deems as appropriate food safety requirements.
- Requiring farmers to comply with FSA-established "minimum standards" for farming practices, including requiring them to establish Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans and other written documentation as determined and mandated by FSA. (what the hell is this?)
- Granting FSA the power to arrogate "preventative process controls to reduce adulteration of food" as it deems fit.
- Granting FSA the power to arrogate "preventative process controls to reduce adulteration of food" as it deems fit.
- Instituting FSA as food safety law enforcement, allowing it to assess civil penalties and fines for violation of any and all FSA safety laws up to $1 million for each violation. It allows FSA to regulate food production at all levels, and even mandates property seizure. Collected fines would become unappropriated slush funds to be used however FSA deems fit in order to "carry out enforcement activities under the food safety law".
This might seem like a benign set of regulations at first glance. With all of the salmonella scares, peanut and pistachio recalls, you might even think that this is a good thing. But take a step back for a moment and think about this. All of these regulations serve only one purpose: THE CONSOLIDATION OF FOOD SUPPLY.
These draconian regulations will create unjustifiable financial hardships for small farmers and run them out of business. That is often the purpose of rules and regulations: to get rid of competition. Only companies that are very large can afford to comply with these rules. This legislation is so broad based that technically, someone with a little backyard garden could get fined and have their property seized. It will affect anyone who produces food, regardless of whether they sell their food or simply consume it.
If people choose to farm without conforming to industry standards, meaning without chemical pesticides and fertilizers, they will be subject to harassment like they have never known. With this new legislation in place, you can say goodbye to organic farming, farmers markets, co-ops and even live in fear of “regular unannounced inspections” of your backyard garden.
Think about how much the government and the global elite now control. They control insurance firms and banks, so therefore they control debt and essentially, business. Now they are close to controlling the food supply and funneling the profits through a few major companies.
If you control people’s debt, you become very rich and powerful. If you control people's food supply, you control THEM. Joseph Stalin did the same thing after WWII very effectively. This is pretty scary, and yet no one is talking about it. You can almost feel the grip of a police state getting tighter...................... Feeling a little claustrophobic?
Comments
I don't know about you, but I'm all for reducing food adultery. I hate it when my food screws around!
But seriously... this is scary. I guess soon we will no longer be able call ourselves a free country. I won't even be able to grow my own tomatoes!
If one reads the entire act, he will note that this is part of the FDA, and if a hazardous foodbourne illness gets traced to my truck farm, I want to know, and I will be shut down. Also, we get a year to comply, hardly draconian. One needs the facts so as not to live in fear.
I dont think anyone knows how the powers that be will interpret this. But this is very scary.
But can you imagine this scenario 50 years ago? Civilizations thoughtout history have tried to control peoples food, this is nothing new. People need to read their history and look at the big picture.
Lucy Foster: Im sure you thought the Patriot Act was a good thing as well! "Its going to keep us safe from terrorists!!" Now anyone can be held without due process just by being classified as an "enemy of the state" for ANY reason.
Its time people like you wake up and get a brain. “That government is best which governs least" - Henry David Thoreau
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