S. 510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

[IslandTractor]

"Derry Brownfield Show", he is a Midwest news commentator who brings out information you normally won't hear about on "mainstream" media. His information over the years has been very reliable!

I know too many people in this country "don't want to hear it", but this country is in bad shape! And bills like this that give way too much control over our food production to Government & "big business" are not good for the general public. ~~ grnspot110

Read about the history of the FDA and why it was founded about a hundred years ago. Before federal oversight shysters of all sorts were selling poisons and placebos to a public that had no way to verify sales claims and were often injured or killed by the products. I appreciate the practical concerns of small farmers regarding how to meet these new safety requirements but it is hard to argue that more food safety is not a good thing.

I read a few of Derry Brownfield's columns at your suggestion. He sounds like a very good guy but is not exactly critical of all parties. Yes, I think we can all agree with him that Agribusiness is too powerful but that doesn't mean that every Mom and Pop operation is producing safe products. He defends a small health food supplement store that appeared to be selling untested "natural supplements" as cancer therapy. That is EXACTLY the sort of snake oil business that the FDA was created to stop because they can kill people. The fact that their customers were happy is only proof of the placebo effect.

From my brief review I'd say Brownfield has it half right. He correctly points out the power of agribusiness and how the feds do not always control them well but he has a bit too much blind faith in smaller private enterprise. The profit motive can over power safety concerns for individuals as well as for agribusiness CEOs.

 

[dmccarty]

House May Block Food Safety Bill Over Senate Error : Roll Call

Looks like the Senate ran into this thing called the Constitution and the bill is not going anywhere fast if at all this year.

Let see how they dance this one through.

Later,
Dan

 

[NorTracNY]

dmccarty,
Thanks for the link.

Yes, this bill will vastly increase the FDA size and scope. Food safety is a good thing, but I doubt the government will be much of a solution. Passing the amendment to have this apply to food producers making over half a million will allow the farmer markets in this country to continue. How many of you think the farmers markets would continue if each of the vendors needed to pay $500/yr and have a lot more overhead? The bill was written by big Ag to kill the small farmers, but the amendment stopped that. The big Ag wants the House to not pass what the Senate just passed for that very reason.

Senate Votes for Food Safety Overhaul - ABC News

Oh, amonia in beef and chlorine in chicken. There was an article recently on chicken in the stores having food poisoning bacteria on it in the majority of cases!

 

[inveresk]

There are some good things about the bill. More oversight on producers and more teeth to remedy obvious abuses was long overdue. However, there are items in the bill that are very concerning. These aim to control the smaller producer but in my view he's not the problem.

It wasn't because of the small producer that they had to recall over HALF A BILLION e-coli contaminated eggs. Nor was it because of the small producer that over a MILLION AND A HALF pounds of tainted meat was recalled in 2010.

E-coli is now endemic in beef and egg production, not because of the small producer but because of unsustainable factory farming practices. Beef cattle are force fed exclusively on GMO corn without access to grass. They spend their lives in pens standing knee deep in their own faeces. No wonder whole herds are riddled with e-coli. These cattle lose 80% of the e-coli in their gut if instead of corn they're fed on grass, their natural diet, for only five days. So it's not as if we don't know the answer. That, we know, won't happen because big ag. would lose billions if there were proper legislation enforcing this. But you can bet your bottom dollar that if the small producer was the problem here, the FDA would be after them with knives.

Instead of introducing sustainable farming practice to get rid of the e-coli, big ag's answer is to inject the meat with ammonia. Legislators allow them to get away with that without labelling which in my view is a disgrace. Already, big ag. has ensured you have a diet of GMO food without it being labelled. Eating GMO might not be a problem but I prefer to know what I put in my mouth.

Anyone at home have a bottle of ammonia on the table with your ketchup? If you eat burgers, you have ammonia in your diet. What would you do if you found out that a restaurant you frequent was adding ammonia to your steak to kill bacteria? You'd report it to environmental health in the hope they'd be prosecuted, tell all your neighbours and boycott the place. When it's big ag., you have to sit back and take it.

My fear is that it's the small producer who will be targeted by this legislation, not big ag., and a little research on the internet reinforces those fears rather than dispels them.

 

[dmccarty]

....
Oh, amonia in beef and chlorine in chicken. There was an article recently on chicken in the stores having food poisoning bacteria on it in the majority of cases!

The problem with chicken is in the processing of the birds. Once the chicken is killed, defeathered, and gutted the bird is put into a water bath to rapidly chill the meat.

Their are two problems. If any of the chicken's "guts" are sliced up during cleaning, ecoli and other bad stuff is now on the meat. When the bird is put into the cooling bath it can then contaminate the cooling water and then other birds. A bad bird can ruin the bath type of thing. I think the processors put Chlorine into the bath water to hold down the contamination.

I THINK some processors, maybe Kosher, do not use a water bath but cold air to cut down on bird to bird contamination.

As long as the bird has icky stuff in its guts and it is possible to spread icky stuff from guts to bird and bird to bird there is going to be a problem. Irradiation would help but that is a new can of worms.

I have NO idea how I know this about chicken processing. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[IslandTractor]

Irradiation would help but that is a new can of worms.

Yeah but no fear of salmonella or E. coli from gamma irradiated products. I am aware there are some difficult to disprove theoretical safety concerns but personally I would be very happy to purchase irradiated hamburger so I could eat medium rare burgers and real Caesar salads again.:thumbsup:

 

[AchingBack]

Just cook the dad blasted eggs, and no problem. I wonder how people could be so hard up for food they eat raw cookie dough, and raw cookie dough ice cream? Some folks deserve to get sick in order to give them a wake up call.

This, from USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/food/safety/2010-08-20-SalmonellaQA20_ST_N.html

Q: Does cooking kill salmonella?

A: Yes, but if you've got potentially contaminated eggs you should still throw them out. In general, cooking does destroy contamination According to the CDC, to be safe, eggs should be cooked until both the white and the yolk are firm and eaten promptly after cooking. Sunnyside up eggs and even over-easy eggs, where the yolks are still liquid, indicate that the proper temperature has not been reached. Baking also kills bacteria and viruses.

 

[smstonypoint]

Something I haven't seen mentioned here.

The legislation being discussed doesn't affect meat and poultry products -- that's the domain of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Steve

 

[jinjimbob]

Pretty much all of it. It really only benefits big ag and big government.

We need to get rid of all subsidizes too.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Yeah but no fear of salmonella or E. coli from gamma irradiated products. I am aware there are some difficult to disprove theoretical safety concerns but personally I would be very happy to purchase irradiated hamburger so I could eat medium rare burgers and real Caesar salads again.:thumbsup:

you can already eat them, just raise/grow it yourself or get it from a trusted source that is doing it right and I don't mean by taking even more food value out of it.
Rick