With the Food & Drug Administration’s latest comment period for changes to the Food Safety Modernization Act set to expire Dec. 15, it behooves the “cold chain” to examine proposals set forth. Food safety for consumers is a key aspect of the act, but the burden of compliance needs to be equally shared and the complexities of the supply chain better understood by the regulators enforcing the law.
Two components of the proposed produce safety regulation could potentially have a significant impact on the supply chain—water quality testing and raw manure use. Under the water testing component, farmers who don’t meet microbial standards during initial testing will have more options for meeting the benchmark. The regulation would also allow for a tiered approach to testing based on contamination risk.