Patrick Kennedy Responds To Food Safety Query
Back in June I wrote about the new Food Safety Enhancement Act being proposed to congress. While the bill was a huge step forward in many regards, many thought the language was discriminatory against small farms. I encouraged everyone to contact their representatives and voice their concern for a “one-size-fits-all” solution to food safety.
You can read the letter I wrote here (in the comments section). I had nearly forgotten about it when into my (electronic) mailbox popped a thoughtful and sincere response.  I learned just what Congressman Patrick Kennedy is doing to help protect our food and ourselves. You can read his letter here:
August 13, 2009
Ms. Colleen Peterson
XXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
Dear Ms. Peterson:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding the safety of our nation’s food supply. I am deeply concerned about this issue and I appreciate your thoughts.
Although the United States is a wealthy nation and a strong agricultural nation, we have seen recent recalls of products across the board. Contaminated foods have come from both within our own country and from outside our borders. Currently, less than 1 percent of our food imports are inspected and an even smaller percentage undergoes actual testing.
In part because of these problems, legislation has been proposed which would establish a Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services. This department would replace the current system which is fragmented between the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture. Despite its noble aims, serious concerns have been raised about the suitability of this legislation for small family-owned and organic farms.
I am completely committed to bringing accountability and responsibility back to the food safety system. This is why I was proud to support an Agriculture Appropriations bill which included increased funding for FDA food safety programs and added inspectors. This legislation also prevented the importation of poultry from China and implemented mandatory country-of-origin labeling requirements for meat. I believe these were important first steps in reclaiming the safety of perhaps our most important strategic asset: our food supply. I remain interested in other food safety measures, such as mandatory FDA recall authority and better labeling for cloned and genetically modified foods.
Thank you, again, for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions or concerns. If you would like to receive information on this and other issues pending before the Congress on a regular basis, I would like to invite you to sign up for my e-newsletter. To sign up, please visit my website: http://patrickkennedy.house.gov.
Sincerely,
Patrick Kennedy
Member of Congress
It is good to know what my representative is doing to help keep us and our food system healthy. Unfortunately, although he acknowledges that “serious concerns have been raised about the suitability of this legislation for small family-owned and organic farms”, he does not say what his or Congress’ response to those concerns have been. Perhaps another letter is required…
Still, even if it were written by an aide, even if parts of it were completely scripted, this letter makes me very happy. I am grateful that someone is taking the time to address our queries individually.  Look, despite the rage shown at town halls all over America, our democracy is still a wonderful democracy. : )
August 14, 2009
Tags: agriculture, farmers, food safety, policy Posted in: Health, Politics
2 Responses
organic farms could actually save us from carcinogens and toxins
organic farms will be the trend of the future coz we don’t like artificial stuffs inside our body
Leave a Reply