[Sosfbay-discuss] Fw: Re: Fw: Food Safety First - Send Bill Marler Packin' to DC!

[Caroline Yacoub]

--- On Sun, 7/5/09, Rosie Yacoub <rayacoub at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Rosie Yacoub <rayacoub at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Fw: Food Safety First - Send Bill Marler Packin' to DC!
To: "Caroline Yacoub" <carolineyacoub at att.net>
Date: Sunday, July 5, 2009, 7:00 AM






See
http://www.marlerblog.com/2008/12/articles/lawyer-oped/marlers-ten-top-food-safety-challenges-for-2009/

His #2 item for improving food safety is to increase regulation of local food chains (CSA, farmers markets).  We haven't had any major, widespread outbreaks of food related illness because of these food chains precisely because they are localized and inherently traceable.  Seems kinda odd to me.  His #1 item is globalization, which given the melamine (sp?) from China problems seems to make sense--but the juxtoposition of the two top priorities tells me that he doesn't necessarily have the best grasp of what the overarching issues are.

Finally, he sites the government's lag time in 21st century communication (like Twitter and Facebook) as a problem in working on outbreak issues.  In California, after the E. coli spinach thing; industry took on the role of creating the communication and documentation tools necessary to track field to fork, and agreed to share the information with CDFA when safety issues came up, or inspections yielded concerns.  It will be interesting to see how this works--but if it works well then why shouldn't this be the way to go instead of adding tracking and IT tasks to agencies that are already overburdened with inspection duties (and inspections are definitely important, and should be the agencies' priority)?

I am not going to sign a letter to Obama supporting this guy.

--- On Fri, 7/3/09, Caroline Yacoub <carolineyacoub at att.net> wrote:


From: Caroline Yacoub <carolineyacoub at att.net>
Subject: Fw: Food Safety First - Send Bill Marler Packin' to DC!
To: rayacoub at yahoo.com
Date: Friday, July 3, 2009, 11:24 AM







What's your take on this?
Mom

--- On Wed, 7/1/09, Food Democracy Now! <Food_Democracy_Now at mail.vresp.com> wrote:


From: Food Democracy Now! <Food_Democracy_Now at mail.vresp.com>
Subject: Food Safety First - Send Bill Marler Packin' to DC!
To: carolineyacoub at att.net
Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 9:12 AM



It’s time to get serious about food safety. 

The USDA has yet to appoint the Under Secretary for Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) – and it’s time that we had a real reformer at the USDA.

Every year in the U.S. an estimated 76 million people get sick with food borne illnesses and 5,000 die. One person who knows this fact better than anybody else in the country is food safety lawyer Bill Marler. 

You may remember him as the generous patron who offered to pay for author Michael Pollan’s visit to Washington State University after his best-selling book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, had been removed from the freshman reading program. But Marler’s been known as a leading advocate for food safety for nearly two decades.

In 1993, Marler served as the lead attorney in the famous Jack in the Box E.coli outbreak. Since then, he’s led the charge in protecting the rights of consumers against unsafe practices by major corporations. 

As someone who’s been on the front lines of America’s food safety crisis for nearly 20 years, he has seen first hand the devastation that can be left in the wake of poor food safety practices.  We believe that Marler understands the problems that create food safety outbreaks and knows the solutions. He believes that inspection is an important process that not only protects consumers but could save farmers, hospitals and businesses money as well.  He understands the importance of regionalizing our food system to build more processing plants that will create a safer food supply and real jobs for rural America.

Known as a fair and fierce opponent, Marler is the perfect candidate to help reform America’s bankrupt food safety system from the ground up. As unprecedented food safety legislation winds its way through Congress that will redefine the Food and Drug Administration’s role in keeping America’s food safe, it’s important that the USDA has an individual with a strong commitment to food safety and consumer health. Bill Marler is that candidate.

Write to President Obama and Secretary Vilsack today and ask them to appoint Bill Marler as the next Under Secretary for food safety at the USDA. 

It’s time that America leads the way in having the safest food possible. Bill Marler can make that happen.

Click here to send Bill Marler to the USDA and make our nation’s food supply more safe. http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/?p=428

Sustainably yours,

Food Democracy Now!

If you'd like to see Food Democracy Now!'s grassroots work continue, please consider donating as little as $10 or $25. We appreciate your support! http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/?page_id=9  

Please write President Obama and Secretary Vilsack today!

You can cut and paste the below letter and send it to President Obama at the link below
and email Secretary Vilsack at the email below.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Send Comments to the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
or
Email Secretary Vilsack: AgSec at usda.gov

Sample Letter:

Dear President Obama and Secretary Vilsack

In an age of record food safety outbreaks, it’s important that America has a reformer on the frontlines in the effort to rebuild our nation’s broken food safety system. In just the past few weeks, U.S. consumers have had to contend with E.coli O157:H7 found in Nestle Toll House cookie dough and a massive new E.coli outbreak in over 421,000 pounds of beef.

On June 24 the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) issued a Class 1 recall for primal cuts of beef from the JBS Swift Beef Company in Greeley, Colorado. According to the FSIS website, this recall has a high health risk to American consumers and at a time when they should be relaxing and enjoying the festivities of our nation’s Independence Day, mothers and cooks will have to worry if their children or loved ones could get sick from eating tainted meat on the 4th of July.

It’s time to put this to an end.

I believe it’s important that America leads the way in food safety for the 21st century and support our nation’s leading food safety attorney, Bill Marler, being selected to lead the way as the next Under Secretary of the FSIS.

America can no longer afford to appease an industry that has made our food less safe and continues to put lives at risk because of convenience or profit. Please show us that you care about our nation’s consumers and children by nominating Bill Marler to become the next head of the FSIS.

Sincerely,

[Your name
city & state here] 
  










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