GIPSA Rule – A Really Bad Joke

I recently had a contract chicken farmer, Craig Watts, ask me for advice after hearing the news that our illustrious politicians had delivered a crippling blow to farmers and consumers.

Specifically, the farmer was referring to the gutting of the USDA Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards (GIPSA) Final Rule which would have dealt with many of the abuses contract farmers face. Known as the GIPSA Rule and something that I’ve opined about many times, House Republicans and Mealy Mouthed Democrats allowed language in a budget bill that defunded the GIPSA Rule which would have provided “commonsense protections that allow small livestock producers to compete and check the abusive practices of the poultry industry” says Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water Watch. House Republicans Drive More Nails Into Livestock Rule Coffin

I had no good advice to give Craig and I fear for his livelihood. He has been one of the most outspoken contract chicken farmers about the GIPSA Rule and took a public stand against the abusive practices towards farmers in the poultry industry. Although no laughing matter, my first thought was to tell Craig to cover his head and duck.

On a serious note I told him to prepare for contract termination because he will be retaliated against for speaking out. One way or another, Craig will be paid back and or illustrious politicians, who claim that they support the farmer, have assured that he has no protection. Over the past twenty years or more, I’ve seen this happen many times to farmers.

It further worries me that farmers were led down a path of destruction by our government. I’ve had my doubts from the very beginning of the latest attempt by farmers to reign in Big Ag from the monopolization of food production and the anti-competitive nature of contract farming.

USDA and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) held field hearings all over the country and encouraged farmers to speak out. Farmers believed in this process especially since they had the DOJ covering their backs……. many spoke. Even still, with the mighty DOJ at their backs, some farmers gave private testimony. A statement in itself about the fear farmer’s harbor!

When USDA finally proposed the GIPSA Rule and opened a public comment period over 60,000 comments were received by the agency and the majority was in favor of the rule. At this juncture of the game some farmers were still fearful and submitted unsigned comments so that they could not be identified by Big Ag.

Farmers have written letters and spoken in person to USDA and their illustrious politicians who supposedly represent them and have put their selves in a precarious position. Anyone who really knows me also knows that I hold no faith in our elected officials whether they are Republican, Democrat, Tea Partier, or Independent.

My cynical view overwhelms me when I travel to our Nation’s Capital because I get the feeling that our illustrious politicians are doing nothing more than paying “lip service” to their constituents. They tell you what you want to hear and send you on your way. They then turn around and “toe the line” from wherever the most power, money, and influence come from. It’s cronyism at its best!

Personally, I have no faith in our government to do what is right for the majority. I don’t think that I’m alone in my cynicism about our elected officials. On occasion I think there are some people who run for public office with good intentions toward doing the right thing. When they reach the destination of being elected to office they quickly learn that their ideals have no place in the political machine that runs our country.

In this particular situation, the GIPSA Rule, is a really bad joke that has been played on farmers and Big Ag is laughing all the way to the bank! I hope our illustrious politicians and government agencies feel good about selling out the American farmer and leaving them to suffer the tyranny of Big Ag.

Poultry Industry Clucking Over Food INC

This past week has been astronomically enlightening to say the least. Food INC was finally shown to the public in my neck of the woods and has raised hoopla to red alert status.

Most strongly conveyed to me is that the movie is skewed against the poultry industry and it’s felt that my part in the movie is not really what happens on the farm and what is happening to contract growers across the country.

The film crew followed me around for two days while I did the daily work on the farm. What was captured on film was not anything different from the normal daily routine. I’m in no way shape or form an “actress”, did not play a “role or part” in the film, and I didn’t go to Hollywood to audition. I’m just an ordinary every day farmer who spoke out when many farmers couldn’t!

For the poultry segment of Food INC two of the largest companies in the poultry industry “DECLINED” to be interviewed. In my book that is not skewing the movie it’s producing something which was unable to include any view-point of what the poultry industry now whines about.

Opinions are like other things and everyone has one. The last I heard we are entitled to them. Differing thoughts are what evokes dialogue about issues and eventually middle ground can be reached which addresses “EVERYONES” concerns. I believe that is considered to be the democratic process in this country which our forefathers fought for. It’s civilized behavior.

What I found utterly amazing in my little part of the world was the almost entire news media blackout about the showing of the movie and the discussion forums which followed. Only one brave local television station, WMDT, showed their face at Salisbury University and their headline was “Controversial Film Showing in Salisbury” (MD). Most news is controversial!

I have to wonder why it took almost 3 years to show an Oscar nominated and Emmy Award winning film to the local public and why the local news media shied away from speaking about it. It’s also been said that pressure was put on the University to not host the event.

Food INC is a controversial documentary and it’s thought provoking. The movie and the issues about food that it addresses are much bigger than me, the poultry industry, or the company I contracted with. The poultry industry is only a cog in a huge wheel that produces our food. The movie provides people with information and arouses the thought process. From that people can make individual choices and decisions about their own life.

Since the local showing of the film I’ve had to be a big girl and had to suck it up over the personal disparagement that I’ve heard. Today I was told that I’m not as pristine as what I portray myself to be. Meaning what, I’m not sure. However I seriously thought about it and have to say that I agree with my accuser.

Pristine – According to Merriam Webster –

1. belonging to the earliest period or state : original
2.  a: not spoiled, corrupted, or polluted (as by civilization) : pure
   b: fresh and clean as or as if new

Good Googa Mooga! Folks I hate to burst your bubble if anyone thought that of me. Over the past 55 years I have been spoiled, polluted, and corrupted by many things. My girlhood visions of everything is beautiful and la la land does exist (my earliest period of state) disappeared a long time ago. Yes, my dreams have been spoiled, my brain has been corrupted, and my life has been polluted by many things that made me think one way only to find out that in reality – the way was entirely different. There is nothing left of my mind that was introduced into this world as fresh and clean. Cynical yes, pristine no!

Seriously, I’ve been called many things over the years from communist to socialist, animal rights activist to vegetarian, anti-farmer to running a concentration camp for chicken’s, and the really bad word environmentalist. The list goes on…. Running the gauntlet of name calling is one way of me achieving non-pristine-ness. It’s never fresh or clean. I’ve generally taken this in stride and operated under the saying of “you can call me anything you like just don’t call me late for dinner”. I’m thinking that this motto will have to be changed maybe I could add-on to the end of the saying “and please don’t call me pristine”.

Controversial Film Showing in Salisbury” WMDT 47

Yum Yum – Open Wide

For those of you who’ve fed babies I’m sure that in the beginning you had to coax the child to eat. I remember the airplane method where the spoon zooms around in the air all the while making a game of it with my kids telling them to “open wide here comes the airplane”.

According to a report from MSNBC, a Washington state fruit processor, Snokist, who supplies our kid’s lunch at school and a baby food maker, has been put on notice by the Food and Drug Administration. An FDA warning letter to the company concerns “reconditioned for human consumption” moldy applesauce and fruit puree which is repackaged and contaminated with several kinds of potentially dangerous multi-colored molds.

WHAT? Multi-colored molds, reconditioned for human consumption and repackaged? We’re talking about applesauce here that most kids consume on a daily basis. Babies eat this stuff! In all of my born days, I don’t think that I’ve heard anything so outrageous.

Evidently, the company, Snokist, has been taken to task several times about the moldy applesauce. FDA’s letter identified at least eight times last year that the company “reprocessed” the moldy applesauce into canned products for human consumption.

To add insult to injury, FDA identified problems during an inspection in June where large laminated bags of fruit products which were supposed to be sealed and sterile were instead broken open and “tainted with white, brown blue, blue-green and black mold. Some bags were bloated and one had a strong fermented odor.”

The company recalled products, 3,300 cases of canned applesauce to be exact, in May, and was blamed for illnesses of nine North Carolina school children after they got sick from eating the applesauce at school. The recall was blamed on faulty seals on the cans.

Of course there are always two sides to a story and out of “fairness” I have to let Snokist have its say. The company admitted that they “rework” some moldy food for future use. It claims that “if rework occurs” the thermal process used is “more than adequate to make the product commercially sterile”.

Snokist’s website says it’s a grower owned cooperative. I don’t think that the problems the company faces are a result of the fruit grown on the farm rather the problems appear to be occuring in the processing methods used and the decision to “rework” spoiled fruit.

I’m stymied here folks and think that I must be missing something. FDA is well aware of an “applesauce may be dangerous to your health” situation, the company has recalled product after making kids sick at school, an inspection revealed many violations of food safety, and yet……… Snokist got a “warning” letter in October saying that the company reprocesses moldy applesauce product and “the method is not effective against all toxic metabolites.” Oh, and by the way, “several foodborne molds may be hazardous to human health.”

Something else I learned is that FDA regulations allow companies to recondition” food.

There are all of these “re” words which are used to confuse people. I wonder if labeling regulations require the words reworked food, reconditioned food, and reprocessed food? Furthermore, all of these words make me think that the product is not worth the fancy repackaging that it’s in.

Our nation’s food is in serious trouble. We are given food to eat which most people wouldn’t feed to their own family if they only knew and I wonder if Snokist officials feed their product to their children. We can’t rely on FDA regulations to ensure that our food supply is safe. We can’t rely on food labels to ensure that the products we eat are actually what the label says it is.

The question comes to mind – What’s a mother to do? The word REject also comes to mind!

This story is well worth reading and is a sure eye opener about what is acceptable for consumers to eat

Read the FDA “WARNING” Letter to Snokist