FW: Down to the Wire on Food Safety: Call your Senator Today!
This is the food bill that will impact the big and small farmers, making 3rd party food safety certification mandatory by all farmers. Act today as they will begin debate, tomorrow
the 17!
Below you will find a request from the national Farmers Market Coalition regarding the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) which will be on the Senate floor TOMORROW, November 17. The bill takes important steps to improve corporate food safety rules but
it is not appropriate for small farms and processors that sell at farmers markets.
From: Stacy Miller [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Stacy Miller
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2010 6:03 AM
To: Dru Montri
Subject: Down to the Wire on Food Safety: Call your Senator Today!
<http://farmersmarketcoalition.org> <http://www.twitter.com/fmcorg>
We need your help, and we need it today!
Debate and voting on The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) is set to begin on the Senate floor this Wednesday, November 17th. The bill takes important steps to improve corporate food safety rules
but it is not appropriate for small farms and processors that sell at farmers markets or directly to restaurants, food coops, groceries, and schools.
The Farmers Market Coalition believes that these farms should have food safety plans appropriate to their size and processing practices. But
it is critical that as we ramp up food safety protections we don’t inadvertently do harm to local and regional food system networks that we've all worked so hard to grow in the last decade!
Two amendments will be offered when S. 510 comes to the floor, and both are essential to protecting this important new engine for economic growth in rural communities and to grow the supply of locally grown
food (click here <http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/food-safety-action-alert-2/> to read why). Please call your Senators and ask them to:
- Vote for the Manager’s Amendment
- Vote for the Tester-Hagan Amendment
It’s easy to call: Go to Congress.org <http://www.congress.org/> and type in your zip code. Click on your Senator’s name,
and then on the contact tab for their phone number. You can also call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your Senator’s office: 202-224-3121.
The message is simple: "I am a constituent of Senator___________, and a representative of ___________ Farmers Market, and I am calling to ask him/her to vote for the Manager’s Amendment and the Tester–Hagan
Amendment to the Food Safety Modernization Act. We need a food safety bill that cracks down on corporate bad actors without erecting new barriers to more local and regional food sourcing. Size and practice appropriate food safety regulation for small and
mid-sized farms and processors is vital to economic recovery, public health, and nutritional well-being."
With your help, we take a stand for for farmers markets as the ultimate beacon for the safety, accountability, and transparency that our food system so desperately needs!
Background:
Read A Sustainable Agriculture Perspective on Food Safety <http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/nsac-food-safety-perspective/>
, which FMC recently helped author.
Read more about what's in the Tester-Hagan Amendment in the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition action alert. <http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/food-safety-action-alert-2/>
Please don't wait until it's too late for you to be heard on this important issue! Join me in supporting food safety legislation suitable for farmers markets and the small-scale family farmers on which they
depend!
Sincerely,
Stacy Miller
Executive Director MIFMA
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