'Significant Changes' Coming for FDA Proposed Rules on Produce Safety and Preventative Controls
Negative feedback from industry will prompt “significant changes” from the Food and Drug Administration to its proposed rules on produce safety and preventative controls at food facilities. An agency statement dated Dec. 19 said the current iterations of the proposals would be too burdensome on farmers and other food producers. Because of the magnitude of the changes, FDA will publish revised proposed rules by early summer 2014, it said. The agency will seek comment only on areas of the proposed rules that change.
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“We have heard concerns that certain provisions, as proposed, would not fully achieve our goal of implementing the law in a way that improves public health protections while minimizing undue burden on farmers and other food producers,” said FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael Taylor in a Dec. 19 blog post (here). “And because of the input we received from farmers and the concerns they expressed about the impact of these rules on their lives and livelihood, we realized that significant changes must be made, while ensuring that the proposed rules remain consistent with our food safety goals.”
Areas of the proposed rules where change is particularly needed are water quality standards and testing, standards for using raw manure and compost, provisions affecting mixed-use facilities, and procedures for withdrawing the qualified exemption for certain farms, said FDA.