WAPF urges FDA to focus on large industrialized food suppliers

The Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), a consumer nutrition organization, is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to focus its resources on the large, industrialized food suppliers who pose the highest risk of injury to American consumers.

"We were very pleased that the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) included the Tester amendment, exempting small-scale direct marketing producers from some of the most burdensome provisions of the new law," said Sally Fallon Morell, founder and president of WAPF. "The big question, however, is whether the FDA will respect Congress' recognition that small-scale local producers are different from the large-scale, national and multinational companies, which not only produce the majority of our food supply, but have produced almost all of the major foodborne illness problems."

FDA faces significant budgetary constraints in implementing FSMA, as the House version of the FY 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill cut the agency's funding by $285 million.

"The agency is complaining that it doesn't have enough funds to properly address food safety," continued Fallon Morell. "But we've seen numerous examples of the agency wasting taxpayer dollars going after small, local producers. If the agency shifts its focus to high-risk facilities, then it could do a much better job protecting American consumers even with the reduced funding."

The comments submitted jointly by WAPF and the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance urged FDA to consider several factors in prioritizing inspections and enforcement, including the size of the facility, the complexity and scope of the supply and distribution chain, and whether the facility is already inspected at the state or local level. "In essence, the fewer 'hands' (including automated hands) that a food passes through, the lower risk it poses," state the two groups in their comments.

"It's past time for FDA to pay attention to the real source of the problems - the industrial food system with its complex, multinational sourcing and distribution chains - and stop harassing small-scale American producers," concluded Fallon Morell.

Source: Weston A. Price Foundation