Source: www.roguegovernment.com
By - Lee Rogers

It appears as if the Obama administration is seeking to pursue an agenda that will setup the federal food police. Using the popular formula of proposing phony solutions to problems that are either manufactured or otherwise, Obama has come out stating that we need more regulations to keep our food safe. With this in mind, it is interesting to see legislation entitled HR 875 or the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 which has been proposed in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill uses language so broad and wide reaching that even home gardeners and organic farmers would be subject to the regulation of a new government bureaucracy. The bill appears to be aimed at destroying family farms through federal regulation so that large corporations like Monsanto can consolidate more control over food production in this country.

As defined in HR 875, the bill would establish an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services to be known as the Food Safety Administration. This new agency would regulate food safety and be given draconian police powers and regulatory authority.

Section 3 of the bill defines what type of establishments would be subject to regulations in this bill. It defines a food production facility as the following.

The term ‘food production facility’ means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation. 

The term ‘food establishment’ means a slaughterhouse (except those regulated under the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Poultry Products Inspection Act), factory, warehouse, or facility owned or operated by a person located in any State that processes food or a facility that holds, stores, or transports food or food ingredients.

These terms and others defined in the definitions section of the bill are so broadly defined that it would potentially subject home gardeners and organic farmers to many unnecessary government regulations under the guise of keeping the food supply safe. 

Below are just some of lowlights in this bill which describe draconian unconstitutional regulations that food producers and food establishments would be subjected too.

Section 202 authorizes the Food Safety Administration to setup a registration system in which any food establishment or foreign food establishment engaged in manufacturing, processing or holding food for consumption shall be forced to register with the agency. 

Section 206 of the bill would actually allow this new Food Safety Administration to visit and inspect food production facilities in the United States and in foreign countries to determine if they are operating in compliance with the requirements of the food safety law. It also gives them the authority to conduct monitoring and surveillance of animals, plants, products or the environment and even inspect the records of food production facilities without a warrant issued from a court. This section completely ignores the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.

Section 207 of the bill allows the Food Safety Administration to collaborate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to establish food-borne illness surveillance systems. It also authorizes the agency to integrate state and local agencies as fully as possible into national food safety efforts by forcing them to enforce federal food safety regulations. This section completely ignores the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution.

Section 302 of the bill would actually setup a public education and advisory system on food safety. In other words, the language in this section would authorize the establishment of a propaganda department within the Food Safety Administration that will tell the public why the Food Safety Administration and their regulations are so wonderful and great.  

Section 401 lists several prohibited acts including the following listed below and many others.

Delivering or receiving food in interstate commerce that is adulterated, misbranded or otherwise unsafe. 

For a food establishment to operate without a valid registration.  

For a food establishment or food production facility to refuse access for inspection by the Food Safety Administration.

Section 402 gives the Food Safety Administration the authority to actually seize food that they believe is unsafe, misbranded or otherwise fails to meet the requirements of food safety law. 

Section 405 states that any person that commits an act that violates the food safety law including a regulation or order issued under food safety law may be assessed a civil penalty at minimum of $1,000,000 for each act.

The bill is extremely long so it would take far too long to analyze every single facet of it but the aforementioned low lights make it clear that this bill will impose entirely unnecessary regulations on food producers. It is clear, that the bill is being proposed not for the purposes of food safety, but to regulate small family farms out of business. As stated before, the vague language used in the bill to describe who would be subject to the regulation of this proposed Food Safety Administration is so encompassing that it could be interpreted by the criminal judicial system to include almost anyone growing food.   

This bill clearly favors big food manufacturers like Monsanto. Why should small family farms be forced to register with the federal government, be subjected to unconstitutional searches and seizures under the guise of food safety? Why should they be forced to pay $1,000,000 in fines for each law or regulatory violation?   It is entirely insane especially when you consider that Monsanto’s GMO foods are undoubtedly far more dangerous than anything coming from a small family farm. Not to mention, most farmers would not be able to follow every regulatory requirement by the book nor would they be able to afford the fines imposed on them if they were found in violation of the regulations or law. 

With Barack Obama now talking about how the government needs to do more about food safety, it seems clear that this bill will be pushed forward. A similar bill has been proposed in the Senate called S 425 or the Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act which appears to contain proposals much like those found in HR 875. There’s little doubt that both bills are being pushed by the big food manufacturers so that they can centralize control over the entire farming industry in the United States. After all, who is the Food Safety Administration going to hire? Considering the format of this bill and who would benefit from it, it seems clear that they will hire people who have formally or are currently working for the big food producers. This is just yet another case of the tyrannical fascist U.S. government at work. Anyone who co-sponsors this bill, supports or votes for this bill should be tarred and feathered and thrown out of office.