A bill known as HR 875, the Food and Safety Modernization Act of 2009, is racing through Congress and it's intended to amp up safety inspections and fines on imported food and farm-grown products sold in stores -- at least, food products that fall under the jurisdiction of the FDA. It's essentially a response to the tainted peanut fiasco earlier this year.
But there are a lot of rumors floating around claiming that the bill would ban organic food, fine small farmers $1 million, shut down farmer's markets, and even penalize you for your backyard garden. As near as I can tell, none of this is actually in the bill. Mainly, HR 875 appears to deal with the FDA and not the USDA, and it specifically (though perhaps not exclusively) covers food sold in grocery stores. For what it's worth, the word "organic" doesn't even appear in the bill.
All of that said, the language of the bill is vague and could potentially be exploited to impose enormous fines on the wrong people. Hopefully the efforts to stop the bill will create enough noise to at least close those loopholes.
Ultimately, though, the government is yet again attacking the wrong country (metaphorically-speaking this time). The CDC says that foodborne diseases kill 5,200 Americans every year. But I wonder how many are killed by cancer and other sicknesses caused by pesticides, chemical preservatives and artificial sweeteners -- all of the terrible crap that's supposed to make our food "safe" and "better."