Ignore the man behind the curtain ... (?)

I got a forwarded email just now that heralds the demise of the small and/or organic farm - or does it?

Read this, from the blog overlawed.com. Here's the beginning of it:

The panics over salmonella, E. Coli and unsafe foodstuffs from China have heightened the prospects that Congress will enact a measure known as H.R. 875, the “Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009″. Should the measure in its current form become law, “food establishments”, which to quote Patrick at Popehat “means anyone selling or storing food of any type for transmission to third parties via the act of commerce”*, will have to register with a new federal regulatory agency, submit to federal inspections, and, perhaps most significant, keep “copious records of sales and shipment by lot and label”. Penalties for infractions will be very, very steep.

Under H.R. 875, apparently, all participants in farmers’ markets will be forced to register or the market will be shut down as an illegal operation. Failure to comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 could result in a fine of up to $1,000,000 per violation.

Here's the definition of "food establishment" directly from the proposed act:

(A) IN GENERAL- The term ‘food establishment’ means a slaughterhouse (except those regulated under the Federal Meat Inspection Act or the Poultry Products Inspection Act), factory, warehouse, or facility owned or operated by a person located in any State that processes food or a facility that holds, stores, or transports food or food ingredients.

The bill was introduced by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) - and since late last fall, she has been vilified across the Internet. If you dig deep enough, though, you find her side of things (per the Huffington Post, via Sott.net):

"The intent of the bill is to focus on the large, industrial processes such as the peanut processing plant in Georgia that was responsible for the salmonella outbreak that killed nine people," she says. She emphasizes that the Constitution's commerce clause prevents the federal government from regulating commerce that doesn't cross state lines. DeLauro says she's open to making technical changes to the bill if any small farmers remain concerned that the bill is aimed at them.

And that is that!