FSMA Impacting Tree Fruit
FSMA Impacting Tree Fruit. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report.
The Food Safety Modernization Act has been a bit of an unknown for a lot of ag producers. Charles Breen, retired District Director for the FDA recently talked about how FSMA could impact the tree fruit industry and how the FDA is addressing questions. One of those questions deals with manure.
BREEN: Instead of putting in rules on the use of raw manure it has said we need to do more research. The agency plans to do more research. It may take, the agency says, ten years. Consumer groups are unhappy with that but the agency has to have more information. The rule they proposed was not workable for many parts of the country, for many people who use manure and other biological soil amendments of animal origin.
Another issue being looked at is the packing and holding of raw commodities.
BREEN: The original proposal was that if you packed your own fruit you were not processing, you're harvesting. IT was part of the harvesting process. But if you did so for someone else fruit that was processing and now you had to fall under the Human Preventive Controls Rule. The agency has backed off and said, no it's still part of harvesting and they backed off because people commented, what's the difference in risk?
What about the wildlife and animal habitat issue?
BEEN: The rule is now explicit that it does not mean that there would be any taking under the Endangered Species Act. It does not mean that habitat needs to be eliminated. The agency has backed off from where the original draft was there. And the farm exclusion from processing has also been expanded. The definition has been changed.
That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.
