In The News...

Hello again everyone. I hope that all is well.

I was checking my twitter this morning and I noticed a tweet from the NY Times Dining twitter people about the Senate putting together a revised bill concerning the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) and the food industry. It intrigued me enough, so I bit and read the article. Feel free to research the bill on your own but for the sake of brevity in my blog, I'll sum it up as best as I can. Basically, the bill will grant the FDA more power and will increase the frequency of inspections by said government agency. Also, food producers, processors, and suppliers will be hit with far more paperwork to ensure that they are complying with everything that the FDA deems necessary now that the agency will be overseeing farming. Oh yes, and the FDA is getting more cash flowing in their direction to make all of this possible. This bill has spawned in response to the influx of food borne illness outbreaks that seem to happen as regularly as national holidays now. Due to this bill, or so congress says, there will be fewer outbreaks and the outbreaks will more easily and more effectively contained. Forgive my cynicism, but I have to disagree.

Some small farmers have expressed concern over this bill, and rightfully so. This bill could do quite a bit of damage to small farms and organic farms that sell locally and at farmer's markets. Burried beneath a mountain of paperwork and constrained by a host of regulations, small farms will be under even more pressure than is already applied to these hard working individuals. But aside from that, the main fear is to be the increased power that the FDA will be granted as a result of this bill. Over the past three to four decades, the FDA, and the entire government for that matter, has been nothing more than a puppet for profit hungry agribusiness giants to pass laws that cater to their every desire and consolidate a shrinking agricultural marketplace until they have all but monopolized our food supply. So, small farms are going to bear the greater load of this burden as the FDA will continue to turn a blind eye to huge corporations that don't comply. That's the way it has always been and the way it will continue to be.

However, for the government and the FDA to place even more of an undue hardship on these small farms is morally corrupt and unjust. But let's face it, calling our representatives or protesting accomplishes nothing. They only way to get anyone's attention is to hit them in the wallet. So, I would like to encourage you to become more aware of your food, where you get it from, who's growing it and how. Shop at the Farmer's Markets, research some small farms in the area and find out where you can purchase their products. Not only will you be buying a better product, but you will be supporting individuals and families who actually need it instead of lining the pockets of agribusiness execs who make billions by exploiting the land and the people who farm it. Could this bill have some positive effects? Sure. But the negative impact that it could have on the food industry, as well as the agriculture industry would be insurmountable. Let's not let these small farmers disappear. We have to support them.

Happy eating my friends,

Jordan