New Food Safety Bill

[Kayelle]

Thanks for the great information on the real deal, Janet~!

 

[jennyema]

Sure, From the bill- (Sec. 109) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to report annually on the activities of the Food and Agriculture Government Coordinating Council and the Food and Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council.

There is absolutely nothing in that section that empowers Homeland Security to "control our food supply."

I think you misleading people about what it really is intended to do.

SEC. 109. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE COORDINATING COUNCILS.

The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture, shall within 180 days of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, submit to the relevant committees of Congress, and make publicly available on the Internet Web site of the Department of Homeland Security, a report on the activities of the Food and Agriculture Government Coordinating Council and the Food and Agriculture Sector Coordinating Council, including the progress of such Councils on--

(1) facilitating partnerships between public and private entities to help coordinate and enhance the protection of the agriculture and food system of the United States;


(2) providing for the regular and timely interchange of information between each council relating to the security of the agriculture and food system (including intelligence information);


(3) identifying best practices and methods for improving the coordination among Federal, State, local, and private sector preparedness and response plans for agriculture and food defense; and


(4) recommending methods by which to protect the economy and the public health of the United States from the effects of--

(A) animal or plant disease outbreaks;


(B) food contamination; and


(C) natural disasters affecting agriculture and food

 

[betterthanabox]

There have been a ton of sites that stated these facts. The original bill did allow for many of these provisions, it has since been amended. However, the clause regarding small farms still has an income requirement of under 500,000 which will affect many of the mid sized farms I frequent. I did not intend to mislead anyone, I only want people to be informed about what's going on and support the farms in their area.

 

[Janet H]

I think this is an interesting lesson in doing fact checking. Just because something is published doesn't mean it true. When I read this thread initially I started googling and did indeed see lots of these kinds of reports but the problem is they were at sites with political or financial agendas. When they are picked up by news outlets and reported on, this misinformation grows legs. For example... FOX news reported on a number of these publications and the wording in their report may have lead many to accept as fact, content that is clearly not in the bill. You really have to go to the source - read the bill, otherwise you are getting someones interpretation of it.

In either case, to those with opinions who want to be part of the process; contact your legislators - they are the ones who will be tweaking this and are the ultimate decision makers. I wonder what they're cooking for dinner tonight