New rules on food safety are part of the proposed Food Safety Modernization Act designed to reduce food-borne illnesses, but complaints from farmers nationwide have encouraged the Food and Drug Administration to take the almost unheard of act of revising landmark food safety laws.

Dr. Juan Anciso, a horticulture specialist at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Weslaco, said the new rules on food safety are part of the proposed Food Safety Modernization Act designed to reduce food-borne illnesses.

The act was signed into law by President Obama in 2011, but growers now have a second opportunity to provide input that might change the language on specifics before it is enacted.

“The new federal regulations would set standards for the growing, harvesting, packing and holding of produce for human consumption,” Anciso said. “Of great concern to producers in the Lower Rio Grande Valley were those rules that dealt with irrigation water, because they irrigate from the river and there are microbes in it.”

Read more about proposed rule change.