New proposed Food Safety Modernization Act Impacts on Composting

Dairy producers who use or sell compost for use on fruit and vegetable crops will soon need to make changes to their composting techniques. New proposed rules of the Food Safety Modernization Act by the Food and Drug Administration will impact manure and compost management.

Washington State University soil scientist Andy Bary shares more

Bary: "The FDA has proposed new food safety modernization act guidelines and they are taking comments right now on it. There will be changes in what is need for compositing once the modernization act is approved."

Bary explains what changes FISMA will bring when considering manure and compost.

Bary: "There is going to be a change in how compost is produced. How long you need to wait before the crop is harvest. And with manure -- how long the waiting times need to be between manure application and harvest of a cover crop. A crop that is generally eaten raw."

The proposed standards concerning soil amendments -- or that is manure or compost that contains manure -- also include: definitions for determining whether the soil amendment is treated or untreated; microbial standards applied to treatment process; instructions for how to convey, handle and store soil amendments and recordkeeping requirements.