Food Safety Bill Could Turn Out To Hurt Small Farmers

The Food and Drug Administration gains a new tool with the passing of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. Aimed at reforming large industrial farms, the act provides the FDA authority to shut down producers that fail to meet science-based standards. This is a major change over older and poorly worded legislation that allowed companies to remain unaccountable even when facing large and reoccurring product recalls. The downside is that small farms, such as many organic farms, now fall under the same regulations for tracking produce as industrial farms if they sell to other businesses. Regulations of this type pose additional barriers to small farms attempting to expand. Corruption in the FDA is also a concern as the legislation essentially gives them control over who provides food to consumers.