Washington-Several proposals for new legislation to correct deficiencies in the food safety system that showed up during the pistachio and peanut recalls have caught the attention of the fertilizer industry. One of the bills is Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s, D-Conn., Food Safety Modernization Act (HR875), which would create regulations to “include, with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting, and storage operations, minimum standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment, and water.” The Fertilizer Institute has met with Rep. DeLauro’s office on this specific language, according to TFI spokeswoman Kathy Mathers, and expects this language will be eliminated and not be included in final legislation. “The vehicle for the food safety legislation will be a bill sponsored by Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.,” Mathers explained. “This section from DeLauro’s bill will not be included in the Dingell bill (HR 759). However, 759 does refer to minimum standards for nutrients, although ‘fertilizer’ is not specifically mentioned. TFI is working to secure a meeting with Dingell’s staff to discuss this issue further.” A third bill not mentioned by TFI is the Safe FEAST (Food, Enforcement, Standards and Targeting) Act sponsored by Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., which likely will be incorporated into the Dingell bill. DeLauro’s already has stirred up a controversy with a group claiming it would “result in the death of organic farming or mandate the use of chemicals or certain types of seeds on organic farms.” DeLauro has responded that the bill contains “no language that would stop or interfere with organic farming which is under the jurisdiction of USDA’s National Organic Program.”
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