ThinkProgress has already documented the hypocrisy in Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) attempt to overturn California’s prohibitions on foie gras and inhumanely produced eggs, while insisting that the state can ban birth control. But King’s amendment to the latest farm bill — introduced very shortly before its near-literal midnight passage — doesn’t only affect California. It threatens to destroy state regulations on food safety altogether, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Environmental Working Group’s legal expert Heather White:

The amendment would “prohibit any state or local government” from “imposing a standard or condition on the production or manufacture of any agricultural product sold or offered for sale in interstate commerce” if 1) production of the agricultural product also occurs in another state; and 2) the standard is in addition to the production or manufacture to federal law and the laws of the state is which such production occurs.”  This impenetrable language simply means that states would be prevented from regulating just about any agricultural product in commerce – contrary to the well-grounded constitutional principles of state police power to protect the health and safety of its citizens within the state.

Foodborne illnesses already kill 3000 and ...