The Food and Drug Administration's Food Safety Modernization Act proposed rules may be an important and monumental step in the safety of the United States' food supply. But, the far-reaching proposed regulations can easily hamper a business' ability to grow and succeed, says Pennsylvania Ag Secretary George Grieg. "One-size-fits-all rules don't always work."

Pa. Ag Department Hosts Animal Food Safety Listening Session

That's why FDA is calling on producers, ag orgs and state ag departments to look over the proposals with a fine-toothed comb. That's also why Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture will host an open listening session on the latest proposed FSMA rules dealing with preventive controls for animal foods and feed on March 17. The listening session will be held from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. in Room 309 of the PDA building in Harrisburg.

Producers and animal food business owners will be affected by these rules, says Grieg. "We need to hear from you so that we can bring your concerns to the FDA's attention. Gov. Corbett and I are making sure PA's voice is heard loud and clear by hosting listening sessions with producers, agribusinesses and ag leaders."

Growing list of concerns
The Ag Department has already compiled a list of concerns. A few of them are:

•FDA funding and other resources for outreach, training, education, implementation and enforcement of FSMA regulations is critical.

•The Pasteurized Milk Ordinance, as currently in place in all 50 states, should be accepted as meeting the requirements of the preventive control rule.

•Compliance dates for very small, small and other facilities under the produce rule and the preventive controls rule aren't the same. Lack of coordination between the two rules will create confusion within industry and state regulators.

•FDA should develop a plan to address the regulatory resources required to respond to non-compliant product testing results prior to including a product testing requirement in the final rule.

To view the whole list, click here. Grieg adds that yet another round of hearings need to be conducted before any rules are put in place. "We must make sure the final rules are reasonable and take a common-sense approach." sense approach."