[This Action Alert is Over]

Cutting through the confusion of the different food safety proposals

Our food safety system is broken. Toxic food-borne pathogens like E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella are no longer just contaminating meat and eggs, but have caused outbreaks in traditionally safe foods like spinach, peppers, tomatoes, and nuts.

Yet instead of addressing the root of the problem, lawmakers and regulators in Washington, D.C. have rushed to action, proposing to fix our food safety system with band-aid solutions that may actually threaten the small-scale, organic and local farms that are part of the food safety solution. We cannot let this happen!

A highly centralized, chemical-intensive, corporate-driven agricultural system, deeply out of balance with nature, lies at the root of our nation’s food safety woes. Any proposed bills and rule changes must recognize and address the root causes of food-borne illness outbreaks, as well as acknowledge and protect the unique benefits of organic farming and local food systems.

For example, while manure infected with dangerous bacteria from grain-fed cattle in crowded feedlots has been linked to contaminating our food supply, not a single bill in Congress or regulatory proposal at the USDA or FDA acknowledges this problem—much less tries to solve it. In fact, the food safety bills in Congress entirely exempt animal agriculture from stronger regulation, placing added regulatory burdens solely on the shoulders of the fruit and vegetable growers and processors whose products may have been contaminated by feed-lot manure pathogens.

And in the rush to find a solution to our food safety problems, numerous lawmakers and government officials have put forward their own proposed solutions—creating a confusing array of food safety bills, proposed rule changes, revised guidance documents and even court cases.

To help people cut through the confusion, The Cornucopia Institute developed an organized chart of current legislative and regulatory proposals. For each proposal, we outline different avenues for taking action, sample talking points, due dates and addresses for sending in comments, and websites for additional information. The document will be periodically updated as new developments occur.

We hope this information will help farmers and consumers of organic and locally-grown foods send the message to Washington D.C. that food safety reform should recognize the unique value of organic and local food systems to food safety, and should contain protections for these farms and not needlessly place them at a competitive disadvantage due to their style of operation.

We encourage people to take action by contacting the lawmakers and agencies. Information on how to take action, deadlines and addresses for sending comments, and sample talking points are offered here.

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