Alaskans at odds over food safety

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

In Alaska, House Bill 202 "simplifies the sale of food products between two individuals as long as there is no intermediary." A sponsor statement from Republican Representative Tammie Wilson says "a genuine concern for food freedom and food safety generated this legislation."

Wilson argues that as Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation is experiencing federal funding cuts, "the ability to regulate effectively and without partiality across the state is being diminished. Many communities on the road system feel over-regulated. Remote communities are unprotected."

But the Daily News-Miner newspaper in Fairbanks says health officials are worried. Not only would produce from farmers' markets be unregulated, so would potentially hazardous seafood, shellfish, poultry, meat and any other processed food.

Wilson says regulations are stifling local food production. According to a 2010 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the forming of the Alaska Food Policy Council, over 95 per cent of the food consumed by Alaskans comes from outside the state. BF