On Wednesday, September 13, FDA published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that extends the compliance dates for the agricultural water requirements in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule for produce other than sprouts. For sprouts the agricultural water compliance dates remain unchanged. Note the proposed rule does not impact compliance dates for the other requirements of the Produce Safety Rule. FDA Commissioner Gottlieb announced the delay along with other FDA planned actions related to the Produce Safety Rule at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture annual conference. His remarks may be found here. Commissioner Gottlieb also announced an enforcement delay for the water standards and a delay for Produce Safety Rule compliance inspections. Please see this Lieberman PLLC regulatory alert for additional information. Please contact Erik Lieberman at erl1@liebermanpllc.com or 202.830.0300 if you have any questions.
