Yesterday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released new food safety rules that primarily impact food manufacturers. A separate set of rules that will have a bigger impact on farms is due out next month. These rules are part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
"I'm still looking over the details of these rules but one big change from what the FDA had original proposed is in what is considered a farm," Pingree said. "Originally, a farmer who boxes up apples or mixes together salad greens could have beenconsidered a food processor. And that food processor label would have subjected family farmers to unnecessarily harsh regulations. We fought for changes to the rules to make them reflect the realities of actual farms and we won."
The FSMA rules announced yesterday represent a "do-over" for the FDA, after an initial set of proposed rules were challenged by Pingree, farmers and activists around the country.
In 2013, Pingree helped organize a meeting in Augusta with top FDA officials in which over 150 people turned out to express their frustration with the first set of proposed rules. In the wake of that hearing, the FDA agreed to withdraw their original proposals and rework the rules to better recognize the needs of smaller producers.
"The rules governing things like irrigation and the use of compost on farms are very important and we still haven't seen the final version of those," Pingree said. "So far, the FDA has shown they will listen to the concerns of smaller farmers and producers and I hope that's reflected in those rules when they come out next month."
