Quote:
It's gotta be a form letter that someone wrote up and sent to every senator. I got the following:
Dear Friend:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me about S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act. I appreciate hearing from you about this issue.
According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), 76 million people get sick each year in the United States due to a food-borne illness. Of these 76 million, approximately 325,000 people are hospitalized and 5,000 die. I believe this is unacceptable. Because it is my priority to protect the health and safety of Pennsylvanians, I supported S. 510, which provides the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the tools and the authority to ensure contaminated foods do not make it onto our kitchen tables or into our childrens lunchboxes.
Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois introduced Food Safety Modernization Act on March 3, 2009.
The Senate Committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions unanimously passed S. 510 on November 18, 2009 and the full Senate passed the bill on November 30, 2010. S. 510 improves the FDAs capacity to detect and respond to foodborne illnesses by assessing safety threats at food facilities, increasing inspection of imported foods and exploring new ways to track fruits and vegetables in the case of an outbreak. S. 510 provides the FDA the authority to issue a mandatory recall.
In addition, S. 510 contains multiple provisions from the Ending Agricultural Threats: Safeguarding Americas Food for Everyone, otherwise known as the EAT SAFE Act, which I introduced in the 110th and 111th Congresses. These provisions add personnel to detect, track and remove smuggled food and call for the development and implementation of strategies to stop food from being smuggled into the United States.
S. 510 does not outlaw home gardens or family farms. In fact, the bill explicitly states that the produce standards shall not apply to produce that is produced by an individual for personal consumption. In addition, the bill contains an exemption from regulations for small facilities and small farms, which was purposefully included to protect Americas family farms. This includes food sold through farmers markets, bake sales, road side stands, public events, community supported agriculture and fundraisers.
S. 510 increases inspections for registered food facilities but does not change FDAs jurisdiction over farms. S. 510 does not require that farms keep any new food safety-related records. S. 510 does not create any new rules in regard to the practice of saving seeds for use from year to year, and does not outlaw, criminalize, or require any specific agricultural or growing practice. Under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, certain food businesses were considered facilities and had to register with FDA. Farms and restaurants were exempted. This definition is not changed in S. 510. If an entity does not need to register now, it will not need to register under this bill.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.
If you have access to the Internet, I encourage you to visit my web site, http://casey.senate.gov. I invite you to use this online office as a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.
Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator
AND:
In stark contrast to that response, I got this:
Thank you for your recent letter to my office regarding Judiciary Committee concerns. I appreciate your taking the time to bring your views on this issue to my attention. The concerns of my constituents are of great importance to me, and I rely on you and other Pennsylvanians to inform me of your views. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office or visit my website at http://specter.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
Arlen Specter
(what?)
It's gotta be a form letter that someone wrote up and sent to every senator. I got the following:
Dear Friend:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me about S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act. I appreciate hearing from you about this issue.
According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), 76 million people get sick each year in the United States due to a food-borne illness. Of these 76 million, approximately 325,000 people are hospitalized and 5,000 die. I believe this is unacceptable. Because it is my priority to protect the health and safety of Pennsylvanians, I supported S. 510, which provides the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the tools and the authority to ensure contaminated foods do not make it onto our kitchen tables or into our childrens lunchboxes.
Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois introduced Food Safety Modernization Act on March 3, 2009.
The Senate Committee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions unanimously passed S. 510 on November 18, 2009 and the full Senate passed the bill on November 30, 2010. S. 510 improves the FDAs capacity to detect and respond to foodborne illnesses by assessing safety threats at food facilities, increasing inspection of imported foods and exploring new ways to track fruits and vegetables in the case of an outbreak. S. 510 provides the FDA the authority to issue a mandatory recall.
In addition, S. 510 contains multiple provisions from the Ending Agricultural Threats: Safeguarding Americas Food for Everyone, otherwise known as the EAT SAFE Act, which I introduced in the 110th and 111th Congresses. These provisions add personnel to detect, track and remove smuggled food and call for the development and implementation of strategies to stop food from being smuggled into the United States.
S. 510 does not outlaw home gardens or family farms. In fact, the bill explicitly states that the produce standards shall not apply to produce that is produced by an individual for personal consumption. In addition, the bill contains an exemption from regulations for small facilities and small farms, which was purposefully included to protect Americas family farms. This includes food sold through farmers markets, bake sales, road side stands, public events, community supported agriculture and fundraisers.
S. 510 increases inspections for registered food facilities but does not change FDAs jurisdiction over farms. S. 510 does not require that farms keep any new food safety-related records. S. 510 does not create any new rules in regard to the practice of saving seeds for use from year to year, and does not outlaw, criminalize, or require any specific agricultural or growing practice. Under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, certain food businesses were considered facilities and had to register with FDA. Farms and restaurants were exempted. This definition is not changed in S. 510. If an entity does not need to register now, it will not need to register under this bill.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.
If you have access to the Internet, I encourage you to visit my web site, http://casey.senate.gov. I invite you to use this online office as a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.
Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator
AND:
In stark contrast to that response, I got this:
Thank you for your recent letter to my office regarding Judiciary Committee concerns. I appreciate your taking the time to bring your views on this issue to my attention. The concerns of my constituents are of great importance to me, and I rely on you and other Pennsylvanians to inform me of your views. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office or visit my website at http://specter.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
Arlen Specter
(what?)
