Cattlemen respond to food safety legislation

Kansas cattlemen support safety measures that provide enhancement and promotion of food safety in the United States. However, there are new concerns that proposed legislation aimed to promote food safety would only hinder U.S. production. HR 875, The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, will establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services. This legislation would provide the Food and Drug Administration with the authority to visit and inspect U.S. farms and ranches. The FDA would be responsible for setting practice standards for production agriculture and be responsible for monitoring and conducting surveillance of animals and the environment. If enacted, this legislation would require the establishment of a national traceability system that enables the FDA to retrieve the history, use, and location of an article of food through all stages of its production and require producers to keep and maintain records for traceability. Producers would be required to provide the Administrator with access to and the ability to copy all records (paper or electronic) not only to determine whether the food is contaminated, adulterated, or otherwise not in compliance with the food safety law, but also to track the food in commerce. This essentially creates a mandatory animal Identification system...High Plains Journal

Prediction: The Politically Superior Ones will threaten the cattle industry with H.R. 875, but will agree to leave the program at USDA in return for the industry's support of a mandatory program.