PMA’s Gorny welcomes changes to newly released FSMA rule
PMA’s Gorny welcomes changes to newly released FSMA rule
WASHINGTON — The Food & Drug Administration has released the first final rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act — preventive control final rules for human and animal food — that better clarify for growers who’s in and who’s out of having to draft food-safety plans.
After three years of touring farms, holding public meetings and asking for comments, on Sept. 10 FDA released the human food regulation that requires food facilities, starting September 2016, to identify and minimize hazards and maintain written plans on each step in the food safety process.
“We’ve been working with states, food companies, farmers and consumers to create smart, practical and meaningful rules,” said Michael Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine. “And we have made a firm commitment to provide guidance, technical assistance and training to advance a food safety culture that puts prevention first.”
One issue during the debate was FDA’s definition of farm, and trade associations argued the agency missed the mark in earlier versions of the rule.
But Jim Gorny, vice president of food safety and technology at the Produce Marketing Association, said the latest final rule more accurately reflects the way the produce industry operates.
There’s more activities categorized as growing, harvesting and packing that can be conducted on farms “without triggering or being caught up in the preventive controls,” he said. Food safety controls on farms will be covered under the first federal produce safety rule due out next month.
For example, packing blueberries in clamshells would have forced farmers into the food processing rule, but not anymore, he said. Activities such as fumigating grapes or field coring remain under the farm definition.
Another change in the final rule recognizes off-farm produce packing operations fall under the farm definition.
“FDA did a really good job of listening to people,” Gorny said. “Today, we all know who’s covered and who’s not.”
In the next few weeks, PMA plans to educate members on the new rules while it anxiously awaits guidance documents that will spell out the rules in more detail.
In the meantime, PMA continues to advocate on Congress to fully fund FSMA implementation, and oppose industry user fees to pick up the shortfall. Underfunded border inspections or state agencies could create confusion and hold up perishable products at the border, he warned.
