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Friend-of-the-blog Jessica Sennett (my co-conspirator on the Cheese Speakeasy back in the day) has launched a Kickstarter to fund development of the Cheese Grotto™, a cheese storage system that is a 21st century version of the age-old “cheese safe”:

Cheese Grotto™, optimal storage...

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Worka Natural Sundried, Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia #counterculture #coffee (Taken with instagram)

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lobstah! (Taken with Instagram at Red Hook Lobster Truck)

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What's the Tester amendment and why should you care?

Local health officials have recently been harassing egg vendors at Northern Virginia farmers markets, while salmonella-producing egg CAFOs get away with nothing more than a warning letter. This is what concerns me about the recent FDA raids on small cheesemakers like Estrella Family Creamery in Washington. Yes, safety is always the first priority. But why is there no consideration of scale? There have been *zero*reports of illness from consumers of Estrella's cheeses. More than *1,600* reported illnesses from salmonella farms. And yet it is Estrella who will likely be put out of business.

There's been a lot of knee-jerk paranoia circling in the small agriculture community regarding the food safety legislation being debated in the Senate this week. Ultimately, the bill is almost certainly going to pass. If you're worried about the fate of your small farms and local producers, ask your Senators to support the Tester-Hagan amendment to exclude certain small farms from one-size-fits-all bureaucratic regulation. No, this does not exempt small farms from safety requirements. Farms who have unsafe practices can and will be addressed. But in the absence of significant changes at the FDA, carve-outs for small operations are the best way to protect the small producers who sell through local farmers markets, CSAs and buying groups.

Find out how to contact your Senators to ask their support for the Tester amendment here (via the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition).

Read the excellent debate and coverage at Grist for more information.

On Twitter, follow @TomPhilpott, @HBottemiller, and @Obamafoodorama for live play-by-play of the Senate debate.

For more on the Estrella Family Creamery raids, read the coverage at the Pacific Northwest Cheese Project.