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It is time for all producers of
food to put the Food Safety Modernization Act front and center.
You have until November 15
to tell the U.S. Food and Drug Administration what you think about how they
have proposed to implement the most significant overhaul of food safety
legislation since the 1930s.
Two rules need your attention:
the produce rule and the preventive controls rule.
Who
should comment?
All of us! Not just the farmers
and food processors directly affected by the rule but restaurants, retailers,
food service buyers, distributors, and eaters – pretty much anyone who wants to
keep fresh, local food available in our communities.
What’s
FSMA again?
The Food Safety Modernization
Act, passed by Congress in 2011, gives the FDA broad new powers to prevent food
safety problems, detect and respond to food safety issues, and improve the
safety of imported foods. FSMA authorizes FDA to write, implement, and enforce
new regulations for farmers who grow fresh produce and for certain facilities
that process fresh produce for people to eat.
Food safety is everyone’s
responsibility and must be assured by all farms and food businesses, regardless
of size. “Small” doesn't automatically mean “safe.” Yet food safety practices
can and should be risk appropriate and recognize that food safety can be adequately
assured in short, local and regional supply chains through clear trace ability
from farm to fork. Food safety practices should co-exist – not conflict – with
sustainable and organic farming practices and on-farm conservation. The Food
Safety Modernization Act recognized all of this, to some degree, through the Tester
Amendment.
However, the rules that FDA has
proposed for farms and facilities neglect these important principles. As written, the rules will create
unnecessary economic hardship and unfairly burden the farms and small processors
that are the heart of our vibrant local and regional food systems.
“I’ll be exempt. Why should I comment?”
Short answer: The
rules will affect you, too, directly or indirectly.
Longer answer: In
theory, many small farms that sell mostly into local marketing channels should
qualify for an exemption (and the very smallest farms aren't covered by FSMA at
all). That’s because, as noted earlier, the Act required the rules to be
risk-appropriate.
Exempt farms aren't entirely off
the hook: they still have to comply with FSMA trace ability requirements. Exempt
food facilities still have to prove they comply with state or local
requirements – as noted above, we are concerned about the effect of this
requirement on farms processing and selling food under Farm Direct. But even farms that think they qualify for an
exemption should weigh in on the draft rules. Why? Two reasons.
First, the way the rules are
written makes it unclear whether FDA will actually honor the exemptions. The
income thresholds and the process by which farms can lose exemptions are two
key pieces of the proposed rules that FDA must fix and clarify.
Second, depending on your target
markets, some wholesale buyers may decide they want a level playing field for
all their suppliers and will require exempt farms to comply with the FSMA rules
and standards anyway. Exempt farms should therefore care about what the final
FSMA rules look like.
What
now?
Step 1: Educate
yourself on the issues. Some good places to start:
• FDA FSMA fact sheets (scroll
down to “About Proposed Rules”)
• National Sustainable
Agriculture Coalition FSMA issue briefs
On the Small Farm Program FSMA
webpage, you can download and read:
• Small Farm Program Comments on
the Produce Rule
• Small Farm Program Draft
Comments on the Preventive Controls Rule
• Past OSFN articles about FSMA
• Oregon Department of
Agriculture Draft Comments on the Produce Rule
Visit the Oregon Small Farm
Program Facebook page to read commentaries we've posted about the draft rules.
Step 2: Think
about how you will be affected by the proposed rules. How will they change how
you farm, process, sell, buy, and eat fresh produce? Are you concerned about
those changes? Why? And – this is important – how should FDA rewrite its rules
to address your concerns? FDA needs us to propose alternatives.
Step 3: Write
it down in a letter to FDA, and submit it online, at regulations.gov. If you
comment on both rules – the produce rule and the preventive controls rule –
write two separate letters, as you must submit comments on them separately. Make sure your letter includes the correct
docket numbers:
• Produce rule: FDA-2011-N-0921
• Preventive Controls Rule:
FDA-2011-N-0920 Step by step instructions for submitting comments through
regulations.gov are posted here: http://sustainableagriculture.net/fsma/speak-out-today/.
(by Lauren Gwin, Small Farms
Program, Oregon State University)
