Food safety legislation and potatoes
Farm and Ranch November 20, 2009 There are various pieces of legislation in Congress to improve food safety for U.S. consumers. John Keeling of the National Potato Council says that for potatoes and other specialty crops, new legislation or regulation needs to be based on risk and be commodity specific. Keeling: “You can’t regulate alfalfa sprouts, which are then eaten raw, in the same way that you regulate potatoes, which have a kill-step and are always eaten cooked. So it needs to be based on the risk and then commodity specific to that commodity. Largely the bills moving through Congress have that capability.” Keeling says there are two reasons risk based and commodity specific are so important. Keeling: “It is important because it means we are not going to be over regulating commodities for which there is a very low food safety risk. And secondarily, the resources that are available to FDA are not unlimited and so they need to absolutely focus on those commodities where the risk characteristics are high.” Keeling says some in Congress want to exempt small sized producers but the Potato Council opposes that because he says if a consumer gets sick, he or she doesn’t care if the food came from a large or small farm. That’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. Brought to you in part by the Washington State Potato Commission. Nutrition today. Good health tomorrow. I’m Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network. ?
