Letter Opposing H.R. 2749, the Food Safety and Enhancement Act of 2009
July 29, 2009
Dear Representative:
On behalf of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, I am writing to inform you of our strong opposition to H.R. 2749, the Food Safety and Enhancement Act of 2009. While NFIB greatly values the public’s safety, we are concerned that this legislation will do little to improve food safety but impose significant costs on small farms and food producers.
NFIB’s primary concern is the authority for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to levy severe civil penalties — from $20,000 to $1,000,000 per day, per violation — on virtually every minor mistake from record keeping to labeling. Mistakes can happen, and in the food production business something as simple as a labeling mistake can result in dozens of violations and be difficult to discover until weeks after the mistake is made. Therefore, the potential compounding penalties could result in millions of dollars worth of fines, rendering any small farm or food producer helpless to continue their business. Even a single infraction with a $20,000 fine – the minimum fine in the underlying legislation – would be devastating to a small family farm.
Additionally, NFIB is concerned about the traceability standards that the FDA would be required to develop under H.R. 2749. We can foresee a system requiring computerized records to be uploaded at regular intervals to the FDA. This will require both a computer and a reliable Internet connection, such as broadband. Such requirements are unfair to small farmers that do not need a computer for their current operations, and the many farmers and small producers located in rural locations where broadband Internet connections can be difficult and expensive. Furthermore, small farms lack specialized staff to input the records, which can lead to errors and create a higher probability for small farms to face penalties than large corporate food producers.
NFIB is also concerned that the bill will give the FDA inspectors free reign to surprise farmers with inspections, even if the FDA has no reason to believe anything has been done wrong. Such broad authority is an invasion of the privacy of farmers and goes even further than the Bioterrorism Act, which required inspectors to have “reasonable belief” of activity that imposed health risks to the public. Even worse, there is no limit to the type of records the FDA could inspect. The FDA could reveal private information such as farming practices or financial data that could put the company in a disadvantaged position from its competitors.
NFIB is greatly concerned that in a well-meaning attempt to quell public fears about food safety, this legislation unfairly and unnecessarily punishes small farmers and food producers. Tremendous costs to comply with the law will be felt by the smallest entities just barely surviving as it is. The outrageous penalty structure could force many small food producers to close because of an innocent mistake.
Sincerely,
Susan Eckerly
Senior Vice President
Public Policy