Eat Healthy Act and food safety initiatives

When I asked him about the topic today, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns was fairly cool to the idea of using marketing order regulations for food safety purposes. The industry is more open to that possibility. Here are a couple of provisions worth noting in the Eat Healthy America Act.

SEC. 808. FOOD SAFETY INITIATIVES.
(a) INITIATIVE AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may carry out a food safety education program to educate the persons involved in the fresh produce industry and the
public about—
(1) scientifically proven practices for reducing microbiological pathogens on fresh produce; and
(2) methods of reducing the threat of cross-contamination of fresh produce through unsanitary handling practices.
(b) COOPERATION.—The Secretary may carry out the program described in subsection (a) in cooperation with public or private partners.
(c) FUNDING.—The Secretary shall use $5,000,000 of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation for fiscal years 2008 through 2012 to carry out this section.

SEC. 809. IMPLEMENTATION OF FOOD SAFETY PROGRAMS
UNDER MARKETING ORDERS.
Section 8c(7) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608c(7)), reenacted with amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘(E) In the case of an order related to a specialty crop (as such term is defined in section 3(1) of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-465; 1 Stat. 3883)), authorizing the implementation of food safety programs, such as the implementation of International Organization for Standardization 9000 standards and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points programs¿, designed to enhance the safety of the specialty crop and products derived from specialty crops.’’.