Photo © Jericho Hills Photography – John Vose

Small farms are part of the fabric of New England, and now – perhaps more than ever – consumers are devoted to supporting local agriculture in our region.  Unfortunately, some proposed federal regulations do not reflect these local values.  The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed new food safety rules  impose confusing and cumbersome restrictions on farm operations in the name of food safety.  We are all in agreement that food safety is extremely important.  But the new FDA rules were designed with large-scale agriculture in mind, and are not compatible with the scale of agricultural production operations in New England. These rules are critically important – they will impact how food in New England and around the country is grown, handled, and processed. Whether you are a farmer, a food buyer or processor, or someone working toward a thriving and resilient New England farm and food system, you have a stake in how new food safety laws are implemented.

CLF will be co-hosting a free webinar on the new FDA food safety regulations on August 13^th from 12-1:30 PM.  We’ll be discussing two rules that were recently issued to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA): the “produce” rule, which addresses farm practices, and the “preventive controls” rule, which governs facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food. This webinar will teach you how these food safety rules may affect your farm, your business, your food purchasing decisions or the region’s farm economy and environment—and how you can take action to be sure your voice is heard.   You can register for the free webinar.  If you’re interested but unable to participate in the webinar, please register and we will send you a link to the webinar after it happens so you can watch it at your convenience.  After the webinar, we encourage you to attend the FDA listening sessions in Augusta, ME (August 19) and Hanover, NH (August 20) to provide comments, and to submit written comments to the FDA before the November 13 deadline.

Webinar speakers include:  Dr. Joanne Burke, Food & Society Faculty Fellow, University of New Hampshire; Dr. Richard Bonanno, Extension Educator, UMass Extension and President, Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation; Dr. Lori Pivarnik, Coordinator, Food Safety Outreach/Research Nutrition and Food Sciences Department University of Rhode Island; and  Roger Noonan, President, New England Farmers Union.

Webinar sponsors are: New England Food System Policy Project (a project of American Farmland Trust, Conservation Law Foundation, and Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group); Food Solutions New England; Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation; New England Farmers Union; Rhode Island Division of Agriculture; UMass Extension; and University of Rhode Island.

Photo courtesy of Curt MacNeill, Boulder Health Revolution

Each year contaminated food sickens 48 million Americans and causes 3,000 deaths.  As the recent federal sequester highlights, Americans depend on programs that inspect food to ensure a safe food supply.  Unfortunately for those who run small farms in New England, the costs of complying with the confusing jumble of federal and state food safety laws can be daunting.

In Maine, nine towns — Brooksville, Sedgwick, Penobscot, Blue Hill, Trenton, Hope, Plymouth, Livermore and Appleton —have passed ordinances allowing food producers and processors to sell their goods directly to consumers without state or federal oversight, exempting them from licensing and inspection laws. These ordinances have created controversy and have landed at least one Maine farmer in court.

The legal issue arises from the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that Congress shall have power to regulate commerce among the several States. Congress has long used this authority to regulate the safety of food products placed into inter-state sales. The states can separately regulate food safety of products produced and sold solely within state borders. Maine’s Constitution similarly provides that state laws take precedence over local ordinances that frustrate the purpose of a state law.

Photo courtesy of Foods U chose 2 Eat, UK Website

Recently the State of Maine sued a farmer from Blue Hill Maine. The farmer had been selling unlabeled, unlicensed raw milk at his farm stand under a town ordinance, the Local Food and Community Self Governance Ordinance. Under state law, however, the farmer could not sell his milk without a license and without labeling the raw milk as unpasteurized; he also could not operate a food establishment without a license. The farmer maintained that his sales were legal under the Blue Hill ordinance, which exempts local food vendors from state licensure and inspection, provided they sell their products directly to consumers.

The court recently ruled against the farmer, finding that he was not protected under the Blue Hill ordinance.  The court reasoned that state dairy law pre-empted the local ordinance because the state laws in question were clearly designed to protect consumers from illness caused by improperly handled or unpasteurized milk.  The court wrote that: “It is axiomatic that a municipality may only add to the requirements of the statute, it may not take away from those requirements unless permitted to do so otherwise.”

The court’s ruling makes sense in terms of following constitutional law principles and the existing food safety legal regime. The bigger policy issue not addressed by the legal decision is whether the current food safety regulatory structure is one that prices small scale farmers focused on local markets out of  business. We think this is an important issue to address and are actively working on it as part of CLF’s Farm and Food Initiative.

We’d like to hear from you.

• May 9: “Why fishermen should care about the National Ocean Policy” – Maine lobsterman Richard Nelson writes about the need for fishermen and coastal communities to get involved with regional ocean planning efforts. (Reprinted from the Bangor Daily News.)
• May 11: “Fish Talk in the News – Friday, May 11” – This week’s interesting fish stories: how much fish is safe to eat without danger from contaminants; a new seafood purchasing opportunity in NH lets consumers buy fish directly off the boat; interviews with one of New England’s last remaining weir fishermen; and a video from a fishing village in Thailand.