FDA Food Safety Rules Update; FSMA Rules Public Meeting

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POLICY: FDA Food Safety Rules Update – From the National Young Farmers Coalition-

Last month, the FDA finally responded to the thousands of comments it received on its draft food safety rules. In the new rules, significant and positive changes were made– but there is still more work to be done. In this month’s update, get the full rundown on what the rules say, how you can take action and upcoming events.

We encourage you to read the rules for yourself:
New FDA Produce Rule
New FDA Preventative Controls Rule

Take Action: These new rules are a significant improvement, but we must keep up the noise! We must defend these changes and continue to improve on them to ensure that small, diversified vegetable growers can compete.

1. Send us your reaction  –  We need to tell the FDA that the changes to the rules make a difference. In addition, we have been working with our partners at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition to identify places where the rules still fall short. If you would like to make a suggestion to include in NYFC’s organizational comment, email Eric Hansen (eric@youngfarmers.org) with your thoughts.

2. Submit a comment!  –  You can also submit a comment of your own. We will be sending out our guide to commenting next month. Keep an eye out for that and be sure to contact us if you want help. Here are the links to comment on the produce rule and the preventative control rule.

On November 13, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a public meeting in College Park, MD to discuss proposed changes to four FSMA regulations originally proposed in 2013. These regulations have been changed due to public input and touch many pieces of the food system, including produce and animal agriculture, on-farm practices, packing and handling, and foreign imports. To learn more about FSMA visit the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s website.

The purpose of the meeting is to invite stakeholder and public comments on the new content of the rules and to inform the public about the rulemaking process (including how to submit comments, data, and other information to the rulemaking dockets), and to respond to questions about the revised proposed rules.

To register to attend the meeting in person, or to get call-in information and instructions, see the full details of the FDA meeting here.