From: Mary Embleton <mary>
Reply-To: Mary Embleton <mary>
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 11:44:41 -0800
To: Puget Sound Fresh <pugetsoundfresh>, FarmLink <farmlink>
Cc: Cascade Harvest Coalition <cascadeharvest>
Subject: [cascadeharvest] Food Safety Proposed Rules Released by Food and Drug Administration
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed two new food safety rules to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act and they are available for public comment for the next 120 days. The FDA’s press release is here.. https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/ ... 334156.htm <http>
There are two proposed rules. The first rule is 680 pages and can be found here:https://www.ofr.gov/%28X%281%29S%28v3yf3 ... 125_PI.pdf The second rule is 547 pages and can be found here..https://www.ofr.gov/%28X%281%29S%28v3yf3 ... 123_PI.pdf.
The National Sustainable Ag Coalition is going to review these rules to ensure that they are not overly burdensome for small, mid and direct marketing farm operations. Please see their Press Release is below:
For Immediate Release: National Sustainable Ag Coalition’s Statement on FDA Release of Food Safety Rules
January 4th, 2013
For Immediate Release
January 4, 2013
Contact: Ariane Lotti, 202-547-5754 <tel>
NSAC Statement on FDA Release of Food Safety Rules
Washington, DC and Today, the Food and Drug Administration released much-anticipated proposed rules detailing standards for produce safety and preventive controls for human food production. Releasing these rules is a major step in the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which President Obama signed into law two years ago. The law is the first significant overhaul to our nation’s food safety laws since the 1930s.
When writing FSMA, Congress included a number of key provisions to ensure that the bill’s regulations work for small businesses and diverse sectors of American agriculture. Congress took several steps to guarantee that small and mid-sized family farms could adhere to new FSMA produce production standards, reporting requirements, and prevention planning requirements without costly new investments.
“With the aim of improving food safety through FSMA, Congress rejected a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to food safety regulations,â€