A-dae Vena Romero: FDA fails to engage tribes with new rules

Currently, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing food safety regulations (proposed produce safety rules) on food businesses that will have chilling and devastating effects on tribal food businesses. The FDA has not provided transparent and meaningful tribal input, yet these proposed produce safety regulations will directly impact the economic and political health of tribes, tribal communities, and tribal producers.

Tribes have traditionally fed themselves safely for centuries. Tribal food systems embody the connections by uniting social, cultural, political, legal and economic institutions within a Tribal community. Tribal food systems have been carefully developed in balanced and technical ways that safely equalizes the needs of people and the births (re-births) of resources connected to the land.

Throughout modern American history, there have been extensive disruptions to the ecological balance between food, environment, and Tribal communities and tribal producers. Unfortunately, these disruptions result in unbalanced focus on separate and distinct parts of the way and how Tribal people eat. All too often, federal policy, federal administrations and regulations do not consider Tribal food systems which measure consequences in a collective perspective. For example, the effects of food choices on health lifestyles is widely documented in diabetes and obesity rates, and provides minimal focus on the decline of traditionally farmed, harvested and processed foods. In light of recent concerns over the safety of America’s food supply and industry, Tribes and the FDA will have to consider safety regulations, whether mandated or not, as tribal food businesses and economies begin to expand. The consequences of tribe’s and tribal producers ignoring the proposed FDA food safety regulations and food safety plans can place all Tribal food businesses and tribal economic ventures in vulnerable and unmarketable positions.