In making food safer, will Congress make farming harder?

For years now, American consumers have been drawn in bigger numbers to local producers like McKinzey and Paskin-Flerlage in hopes of becoming better connected to their food sources. Yet at the same time, there is a growing chorus of health advocates who say the government needs to keep better tabs on the food Americans eat, and are pressing for an act of Congress that could, among other things, regulate how spinach is grown at Solana Farm. And while both movements hope to put healthier foods on the table, many wonder whether the country is big enough for the both of them. The Food Safety Modernization Act aims to shore up what has been long considered a dearth of funding and authority at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It would increase the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's scrutiny of food production and processing and give that department more latitude in ordering recalls. Small-scale farmers like McKinzey and Paskin-Flerlage, however, worry that more government regulations could bring added costs to a business already running on tight margins. Local-food advocates often attribute the "globalized" food system to government fees and regulations that favor large producers with the capital to overcome them. "They are just making it more and more difficult," said Jenny Sabo, a Harrison cattle rancher and outspoken local-food advocate. "They are making higher and higher costs to entry that (big producers) can cover. It is just more regulations, more paperwork and more costly infrastructure."...more