This is the story of our now Colorado family as we try to live a more sustainable lifestyle. We are turning our small town plot into a sustainable venture that will provide us with food, nourishment, and many adventures for us and our 2 boys. This includes growing our own food, becoming more energy-independent by using renewable resources and reducing our overall consumption.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Please call
Please take a good look at this bill and call your govt. official with concerns. This is too important to ignore. In Frith, Devin
Astrid, That comes from the government, so it needs to be taken with a bit of salt. I mean why should we trust the government to tell us what we can and cannot eat/drink?
FWIW, This is the email I got from Senator Franken in response to my letter of concern:
>>>>>>>
Thank you for contacting me about food safety. I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns with me on this important issue. While the U.S. food supply is one of the safest in the world, public health officials estimate that each year millions of people (including thousands of Minnesotans) become sick -- and thousands more die -- from foodborne illnesses. The current system relies too heavily on reacting to outbreaks after they have occurred, instead of preventing their occurrence in the first place. There's a lot of room for improvement. Minnesota is regarded as the national leader in early detection of foodborne diseases, and we have a long record of working effectively with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on food safety. However, the FDA does not currently have all the tools it needs to ensure the safety of our food. S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, builds on what works in Minnesota and would address many of these inadequacies. Overall, this bill would improve the safety and security of our food and enhance our foodborne illness surveillance systems. While safety is of critical importance, it is equally important that Minnesotans are still able to go to their neighborhood farms and farmers' markets to purchase food directly from producers. As a member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), I worked with Senator Merkley from Oregon to include provisions in S. 510 that ensure small farms and organic farmers would not be overburdened by this legislation. These changes ensure that small farms and markets would be exempt from any additional and duplicative food safety record keeping requirements under the bill. On December 18, 2009, S. 510 was reported favorably out of the HELP Committee. As a member of this committee, I was proud to vote for it. The bill is now expected to come before the full Senate in the near future. As Congress finalizes food safety legislation, I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that any legislation will bring safer food to all Minnesotans. Thank you again for contacting me, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future on this or any other matter of concern to you.
4 comments:
http://food.change.org/blog/view/food_safety_act_fearmongering_is_much_ado_about_nothing
Astrid,
That comes from the government, so it needs to be taken with a bit of salt. I mean why should we trust the government to tell us what we can and cannot eat/drink?
FWIW, This is the email I got from Senator Franken in response to my letter of concern:
>>>>>>>
Thank you for contacting me about food safety. I appreciate you taking the time to share your concerns with me on this important issue.
While the U.S. food supply is one of the safest in the world, public health officials estimate that each year millions of people (including thousands of Minnesotans) become sick -- and thousands more die -- from foodborne illnesses. The current system relies too heavily on reacting to outbreaks after they have occurred, instead of preventing their occurrence in the first place. There's a lot of room for improvement.
Minnesota is regarded as the national leader in early detection of foodborne diseases, and we have a long record of working effectively with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on food safety. However, the FDA does not currently have all the tools it needs to ensure the safety of our food. S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, builds on what works in Minnesota and would address many of these inadequacies. Overall, this bill would improve the safety and security of our food and enhance our foodborne illness surveillance systems.
While safety is of critical importance, it is equally important that Minnesotans are still able to go to their neighborhood farms and farmers' markets to purchase food directly from producers. As a member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), I worked with Senator Merkley from Oregon to include provisions in S. 510 that ensure small farms and organic farmers would not be overburdened by this legislation. These changes ensure that small farms and markets would be exempt from any additional and duplicative food safety record keeping requirements under the bill.
On December 18, 2009, S. 510 was reported favorably out of the HELP Committee. As a member of this committee, I was proud to vote for it. The bill is now expected to come before the full Senate in the near future. As Congress finalizes food safety legislation, I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that any legislation will bring safer food to all Minnesotans.
Thank you again for contacting me, and I look forward to hearing from you in the future on this or any other matter of concern to you.
http://ht.ly/1Phh4
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