If you want to know what's in your milk or in your canned tuna, you better let your congressman know you appreciate such information.

The federal government wants to take away from us much of what little information we get, and that's just wrong.

The Food and Drug Administration is seeking Congress' approval to establish national standards for warnings placed on food labels.

But Hawai'i and other states already have their own laws — nearly 200 of them — that have higher standards. Those stronger laws would be trumped by the new legislation, which would set a lower bar and is seen as a sop to business, which has complained of a lack of uniformity in regulations.

That's the odd thing about the federal food safety bill: It protects business interests over the consumer.

Little wonder that consumer groups and attorneys general from 40 states, including Hawai'i, oppose the bill. State Attorney General Mark Bennett even called the bill "dangerous."

Still, the House passed the bill, H.R. 4167, also known as the National Uniformity for Food Act, by a vote of 283-139 last week and sent it on to the Senate. What happens next can be determined by how you act.

If you want to know about the health risk in mercury or lead, or anything toxic that you can possibly ingest, then you should let our senators know.

Federal regulation is generally a good thing, barring redundancy. But this new proposal isn't redundant; it's counterproductive, anemic and weak. And it might actually make food less safe for consumers.

If the goal truly is food safety, the states already work to achieve that and will be set back significantly by the new legislation. A uniform federal law that sets a floor for food safety standards might make sense, but not at the expense of tougher state regulations.

Don't let the federal government shut the pantry door and leave us in the dark.

We need more information, not less, when it comes to food safety.