the GoodEater Collaborative

Author: Judson Berkey (5 Articles)

Judson Berkey is a Managing Director in the Operational Risk Control function in UBS, responsible for the Operational Risk Framework and coordinating operational risk activities across the worldwide operations of the bank. He is an expert on international regulatory frameworks for agriculture, finance, and e-commerce. He resides in Zurich, Switzerland.

While concepts such as sustainability and local production, through, for example, the mechanism of geographical indications, have a long tradition in Europe, they are relatively new in the U.S. and still trying to find a footing there. What is not new, however, is the concept of food safety. This is a topic with a long and storied history in the U.S. One only needs to go back to the early 1900s and the publication of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle to see how food safety has captured public attention in the U.S.

Sinclair’s purpose for writing the book was actually to document the abysmal labor conditions of workers in the meatpacking industry in Chicago. What grabbed headlines upon publication of the book, however, was the potential for contaminated beef as a result of the production conditions. The public outcry caused foreign sales of US beef to fall by at least 50%. This led the meatpackers (highly concentrated then and still so today) to lobby for federal legislation on food safety, particularly inspection and certification. The result was the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the creation of the Bureau of Chemistry which became the Food and Drug Administration.

Thus, food safety is never very far out of the equation when it comes to any food and agriculture legislation in the U.S. This year, both chambers of the U.S. Congress are working on food safety legislation (known as S. 510 and H.R. 2749) intended to update the existing Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The two bills are pretty similar, and useful summary overviews are available by clicking the links above.

Among the most significant provisions of this legislation are the following:

• Requires food facilities to conduct hazard analysis, create food safety plans, and implement controls
• Allows the FDA Director to order immediate and mandatory recalls or quarantines based on safety concerns
• Requires country of origin labelling and inspections of foreign food facilities

One needs to understand the scope of the legislation. It applies only to that part of the food chain regulated by FDA and not the Department of Agriculture (i.e., not meat, poultry, egg or milk products among others). There was significant concern among small farmers and the organic/sustainable agriculture movement during the early stages of the drafting of these bills. The concern centered on whether the requirements for hazard analysis, food safety plans, and control systems would be so costly as to put direct sales arrangements and farmers markets out of business.

This concern is a bit overblown as farms, private residences, restaurants, other retail food establishments, and nonprofit food banks and distributors are exempt from the bill’s requirements. This is well explained by Bill Marler on his “food safety” blog. As an aside, for those who do not know Bill Marler he is an excellent source of information on food safety and other related legislative and policy developments.

However, the bills could no doubt be improved, particularly from a sustainable or quality agriculture perspective. Marler suggests the bills should raise more money from producers and redirect the money toward state and local health and agriculture authorities for work on food safety. He also suggests that more policy work is necessary to balance energy, environment, and biodiversity with the ultimate goal of having a food policy that creates healthy humans. It is hard to argue with that.

“American Food Safety Actually on the Move?” is syndicated and adapted  from Judson Berkey’s excellent monthly newsletter, A Call to Farms. To subscribe to his newsletter directly, visit www.acalltofarms.info.