Dear Senator Burr
Contrary to the statements in your newsletter, S.510, The Food Safety Act is punitive to small business and farmers, including produce stands. Below is a partial list of extracts from the bill that disputes your assertions. I will be posting this email and your newsletter on the Crystal Coast Tea Party web site. I will also continue to excerpt the bill where it shows how the bill is detrimental to small farmers in NC and throughout the US.
Page 4 [includes roadside stands by definition]
CON10
CERN.—If the Secretary believes that there is a rea11
sonable probability that the use of or exposure to an
12 article of food, and any other article of food that the
13 Secretary reasonably believes is likely to be affected
14 in a similar manner, will cause serious adverse
15 health consequences or death to humans or animals,
16 each person (excluding farms and restaurants) who
17 manufactures, processes, packs, distributes, receives,
18 holds, or imports such article shall, at the request of
19 an officer or employee duly designated by the Sec20
retary, permit such officer or employee, upon presen21
tation of appropriate credentials and a written notice
22 to such person, at reasonable times and within rea23
sonable limits and in a reasonable manner, to have
24 access to and copy all records relating to such article
25 and to any other article of food that the Secretary
Page 10
[small entity compliance guide]
20 (2) SMALL ENTITY COMPLIANCE POLICY
21 GUIDE.—Not later than 180 days after the issuance
22 of the regulations promulgated under section
23 415(b)(5) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic
24 Act (as added by this section), the Secretary shall
25 issue a small entity compliance policy guide
[includes roadside stands]
Page 11
(1) RETAIL FOOD ESTABLISHMENT.—The Sec11
retary shall amend the definition of the term ‘‘retail
12 food establishment’’ in section in 1.227(b)(11) of
13 title 21, Code of Federal Regulations to clarify that,
14 in determining the primary function of an establish15
ment or a retail food establishment under such sec16
tion, the sale of food products directly to consumers
17 by such establishment and the sale of food directly
18 to consumers by such retail food establishment in19
clude—
20 (A) the sale of such food products or food
21 directly to consumers by such establishment at
22 a roadside stand or farmers’ market where such
23 stand or market is located other than where the
24 food was manufactured or processed;
continued on Page 12
[NOTE: any other sale and distribution as determined by the Secretary]
1 (B) the sale and distribution of such food
2 through a community supported agriculture
3 program; and
4 (C) the sale and distribution of such food
5 at any other such direct sales platform as deter6
mined by the Secretary.
Page 25 & 26
[NOTE: The Secretary has authority to make the 'size' determination]
23 ‘‘(B) SIZE.—The results of the study con24
ducted under subparagraph (A) shall include
25 the information necessary to enable the Sec26
† S 510 ES
1 retary to define the terms ‘small business’ and
2 ‘very small business’, for purposes of promul3
gating the regulation under subsection (n). In
4 defining such terms, the Secretary shall include
5 consideration of harvestable acres, income, the
6 number of employees, and the volume of food
7 harvested.
Page 36 & 37
[NOTE: The Secretary determines]
19 (d) SMALL ENTITY COMPLIANCE POLICY GUIDE.—
20 Not later than 180 days after the issuance of the regula21
tions promulgated under subsection (n) of section 418 of
22 the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (as added by
23 subsection (a)), the Secretary shall issue a small entity
24 compliance policy guide setting forth in plain language the
25 requirements of such section 418 and this section to assist
† S 510 ES
1 small entities in complying with the hazard analysis and
2 other activities required under such section 418 and this
3 section.
Page 42 & 44
[NOTE: during rule making The Secretary defines 'small and very small businesses]
22 ‘‘(F) define, for purposes of this section,
23 the terms ‘small business’ and ‘very small busi24
ness’
Page 46
[NOTE: This is not an exemption for small businesses & the flexibility is determined by The Secretary]
12 ‘‘(B) provide sufficient flexibility to be
13 practicable for all sizes and types of businesses,
14 including small businesses such as a small food
15 processing facility co-located on a farm;
Page 46
[NOTE: This does not exempt small businesses from any paperwork; it simply requires The Secretary to consider the impact]
16 ‘‘(C) comply with chapter 35 of title 44,
17 United States Code (commonly known as the
18 ‘Paperwork Reduction Act’), with special atten19
tion to minimizing the burden (as defined in
20 section 3502(2) of such Act) on the business,
21 and collection of information (as defined in sec22
tion 3502(3) of such Act), associated with such
23 regulations;
Page 47
[NOTE: Leaves open a requirement for any businesses to hire 3rd party consultants to resolve disputes. May be extremely expensive for small businesses]
3 ‘‘(E) not require a business to hire a con4
sultant or other third party to identify, imple5
ment, certify, compliance with these procedures,
6 processes, and practices, except in the case of
7 negotiated enforcement resolutions that may re8
quire such a consultant or third party;
[NOTE: grants usually come with strings attached]
Page 171
3 ‘‘(c) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this sec4
tion, the Secretary shall give priority to projects that tar5
get small and medium-sized farms, beginning farmers, so6
cially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, or small
7 fresh fruit and vegetable merchant wholesalers.
No comments:
Post a Comment