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By Deirdre Fulton
The Portland Phoenix

"From farm to table" isn't just a meaningless foodie slogan anymore. It's the rallying cry for the smallest of small-scale farming operations in Maine, which are fighting against what they consider to be burdensome state and federal regulations. In the process, they're laying the groundwork for a nationwide "food sovereignty" movement, aimed at restoring the direct relationship between food producers and consumers, while reducing government interference in local food systems.

It started on the Blue Hill peninsula, a cluster of tiny, rural, coastal towns about three hours northeast of Portland. A controversy over poultry regulations led a group of family farmers to Augusta, where they told legislators that state food-safety rules were too strict. They claimed that current law could require them to spend tens of thousands of dollars in permitting fees, equipment, and new facilities, just to butcher a few chickens and sell the meat to their neighbors.

At a public hearing and later at a work session, the farmers were told — sympathetically, but still — that if the state were to loosen its meat-inspection conditions, federal funding would be pulled. Hal Prince, director of the state's Quality Assurance and Regulation division within the agriculture department, explains that in order for the state to run its own meat-inspection program, its standards "have to be at least equal to the [US Department of Agriculture]." The USDA chips in about $200,000 — roughly half of the program's operating costs.

Bill C-36 A matter of rights

Editor's Note:  If you still believe that the Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510) recently passed in the U.S. Congress and the Canadian Consumer Product Safety Act (C-36), made law in Canada last week, are intended to make you safer, you haven't read the legislation.  These laws are designed to strip away any legal rights or protections which remain.  Regardless, the "existing power structures", just like they did to the Jewish people during WWII, will slowly, methodically, strip you of all legal protection and then they will ignore any remaining laws in order to complete their plan for total world domination.

The Windsor Star

Quietly and without a great deal of public debate, Bill C-36 -- called the Canadian Consumer Product Safety Act -- became law this week. And, at least on the surface, the legislation seems to be something no one would have any issue with; after all, everyone wants to buy things that won't hurt us or make us ill.

However, Canada already has solid legislation -- including the Hazardous Product Act that's backed up by hefty fines and jail time for offenders -- to ensure that products are safe and won't find their way into the marketplace if they are harmful.

And the government already has the power to step in and ban a product that's deemed dangerous to health and safety, and inspectors can search and seize products with a warrant. For example, two years, ago Ottawa declared the widely used chemical bisphenol A toxic and unsuitable for use in baby bottles.

Read Full Article 
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S 510 Food Safety bill is still alive and may unleash a new army of FDA agents

Mike Adams
Natural News

The U.S. government wants to know where your greenhouse is. Under Senate Bill 510 -- which is now back in the hands of the U.S. Senate after the House hid an amendment in an appropriations bill and passed it last night -- American food producers would be required to register their facilities with the U.S. government. The feds, it seems, want a database of food growers so they know who to target for surprise inspections (show me your papers!).

As stated in the bill itself

SEC. 102. REGISTRATION OF FOOD FACILITIES. 18 (a) UPDATING OF FOOD CATEGORY REGULATIONS; BIENNIAL REGISTRATION RENEWAL. Section 415(a) (2120 U.S.C. 350d(a))

"The registration shall contain an assurance that the Secretary will be permitted to inspect such facility at the times and in the manner permitted by this Act."

What this language shows is that the point of registration is so that government agents can conduct surprise inspections of food facilities. At least 4,000 new FDA agents will need to be hired if this bill becomes law, greatly expanding the FDA's agent presence in much the same way the TSA expanded over the last few years.

Read Full Article 

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Suffocated By Red Tape – 12 Ridiculous Regulations That Are Almost Too Bizarre To Believe

The Economic Collapse Blog

Even with all of the massive economic problems that the United States is facing, if the government would just get off our backs most of us would do okay.  In America today, it is rapidly getting to the point where it is nearly impossible to start or to operate a small business.

The federal government, the state governments and local governments are cramming thousands upon thousands of new ridiculous regulations down our throats each year.  It would take a full team of lawyers just to even try to stay informed about all of these new regulations.  Small business in the United States is literally being suffocated by red tape.  We like to think that we live in "the land of the free", but the truth is that our lives and our businesses are actually tightly constrained by millions of rules and regulations.

Today there is a "license" for just about every business activity.  In fact, in some areas of the country today you need a "degree" and multiple "licenses" before you can even submit an application for permission to start certain businesses.  And if you want to actually hire some people for your business, the paperwork nightmare gets far worse.  It is a wonder that anyone in America is still willing to start a business from scratch and hire employees.  The truth is that the business environment in the United States is now so incredibly toxic that millions of Americans have simply given up and don't even try to work within the system anymore.


Today, the U.S. government has an "alphabet agency" for just about everything.  The nanny state feels like it has to watch, track and tightly control virtually everything that we do.  The Federal Register is the main source of regulations for U.S. government agencies.  In 1936, the number of pages in the Federal Register was about 2,600.  Today, the Federal Register is over 80,000 pages long.  That is just one example of how bad things have gotten.

But it is not just the federal government that is ramming thousands of ridiculous regulations down our throats.  The truth is that in many cases state and local governments are far worse.  We have become a nation that is run and dominated by bureaucrats.  Yes, there always must be rules in a society, but we have gotten to the point where there are so many millions of rules that the game has become unplayable.

The following are 12 examples of ridiculous regulations that are almost too bizarre to believe....

#1 The state of Texas now requires every new computer repair technician to obtain a private investigator’s license.  In order to receive a private investigator’s license, an individual must either have a degree in criminal justice or must complete a three year apprenticeship with a licensed private investigator.  If you are a computer repair technician that violates this law, or if you are a regular citizen that has a computer repaired by someone not in compliance with the law, you can be fined up to $4,000 and you can be put in jail for a year.

#2 The city of Philadelphia now requires all bloggers to purchase a $300 business privilege license.  The city even went after one poor woman who had earned only $11 from her blog over the past two years.

#3 The state of Louisiana says that monks must be fully licensed as funeral directors and actually convert their monasteries into licensed funeral homes before they will be allowed to sell their handmade wooden caskets.

#4 In the state of Massachusetts, all children in daycare centers are mandated by state law to brush their teeth after lunch.  In fact, the state even provides the fluoride toothpaste for the children.

#5 If you attempt to give a tour of our nation's capital without a license, you could be put in prison for 90 days.

Read Full Article

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Regulators prey on food processing plant in effort to pass federal food legislation

Ethan A. Huff
Natural News

The Texas Department of State Health Services recently ordered Sangar Produce, a San Antonio-based produce processor, to cease operations and recall all of its bagged salads and cut up fruit and vegetable products. Authorities say the plant was contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, which may have been linked to the deaths of four people. But the company denies these claims, saying independent tests showed the plant to be clean.

According to Carrie Williams, spokeswoman for the Texas health department, the state identified a link between the consumption of Sangar's chopped celery and ten cases of illness, four of which resulted in death. But Sangar president Kenneth Sanquist responded that there must have been a mistake.

"The independent testing shows our produce to be absolutely safe, and we are aggressively fighting the state's erroneous findings," Sanquist is quoted as saying in a recent CNN.com article.
Sanquist went on to say that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not had enough involvement in any actual inspections. Though not directly responsible for closing the plant down and ordering the recall, the FDA is assisting the Texas health department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the investigation.
According to the report, violations at the plant included a condensation leak, some dirt on a food preparation table, and inadequate hand washing. Though such violations are significant, the discrepancy between state and independent tests is highly suspect in the case.

Throughout the past several years, NaturalNews has uncovered plots by the federal government and other key players to increase centralized control and power over food (http://www.naturalnews.com/029678_S...) and irradiate all meat and produce (http://www.naturalnews.com/028986_f...). And all the recent food safety scares seem to be part of the plan to scare the public into giving the government the power it wants over food.

No matter who is actually at fault in the Sangar Produce case, you can count on the FDA and other federal authorities to use it as a reason for increased food tyranny. Do not fall for it.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/2...

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New FDA Regulations to destroy small organic farms

David Gutierrez
Natural News

A proposed law to bring farms more directly under FDA supervision could be the death of small organic farms, natural food advocates have warned.

“How do we trust that the FDA is going to know about things that the San Francisco Bay Area has been very progressive on — the field to fork, fresh, grow local, buy local — all of that?” said Rep. Sam Farr. “The organic people are feeling that the regulations the FDA may promulgate will be so safety oriented, it’ll put them out of business.”

Spurred by recent outbreaks of foodborne illness across the country, Congress has moved to give the FDA direct control over the production, storage, transport, inspection and recall of food products. A bill to that effect has already passed the House of Representatives, while another version is currently before the Senate.

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Congress looks at laws that criminalize non-criminal behavior

Lesley Clark
McClatchy News

WASHINGTON — Abner Schoenwetter, a Miami seafood importer, spent six years in prison, paid tens of thousands of dollars in fines and legal fees and is at risk of losing his home.

His crime? Agreeing to purchase lobster tails that federal prosecutors said violated harvest regulations — in Honduras.

Now Schoenwetter, 64, is a convicted felon with an ailing wife, no job or right to vote and three years of supervised release ahead of him. But he's also a star witness for congressional efforts aimed at stemming what a growing number of legal experts and lawmakers consider "overcriminalization" — the federal government's penchant for writing new laws to criminalize conduct that could be addressed with fines or other remedies.

"We must put an end to the notion that we need to prosecute every individual for every perceived offense," said Rep. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat who chairs a House Judiciary subcommittee that last week held its second hearing on overcriminalization. "We continue to lock up people for offenses that should not even require incarceration."

Read Full Article

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