Stopping Food Smuggling?

Although not an issue that I have followed closely, the Senate passed a cloture vote on the Orwellian named Food Safety Modernization Act. This bill empowers the government to enforce the will of big agribiz by shutting down local food growers, and even your vegetable garden, all in the name of food safety. I am not a big fan of the locally grown food movement, but who cares? It is the right of the people to engage in the kind of commerce they choose as best. If someone thinks that locally, organically grown food is the best way to eat healthy and save the planet, and they are willing to put their money where their opinion is, more power to them. This is what the public has been clamoring for, vast new government bureaucracy to control how we plant seeds.

Whoa? Where does it talk about seeds? From the Food Freedom blog:

(c) Regulations . . .Secretary of Agriculture andrepresentatives of State departments of agriculture, shall promulgate regulations to establish science-based minimum standards for the safe production of food by food production facilities. Such regulations shall–

(3) include with respect to growing, harvesting, sorting,and storage operations, minimum standards related to fertizer use, nutrients, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment… and water;

1. there is a small list inside the FDA called “sources of seed contamination” and

2. the FDA has now defined “seed” as food,

3. so seeds can now be controlled through “food safety.”

Further, this bill has been defended because of the epidemic of food smuggling that is now plaguing the United States. What's that, never heard of that problem? From the linked article, here is the largest ever case ever case of food smuggling:

Is food smuggling a problem in the United States? Well, the “biggest food smuggling case in the history of the U.S.” busted wide open in September. Eleven Chinese and German executives were indicted for bringing in $40 million worth of commercial grade honey over a five year period, reportedly to avoid paying $80 million in import fees. (No wonder they tried smuggling.)

H/T to Sarah Bond.