Food Safety Modernization Act: Industry Leaders Urge Groups To Submit Produce-Safety Rule Comments

The Packer (5/17, Wilkinson, 13K) reports that after the produce-safety “regulations become final under the Food Safety Modernization Act, the industry will have to live with them for a long time. With that in mind, panelists at the May 15 FSMA workshop at United Fresh 2013” in San Diego, “strongly urged attendees to file comments with the Food and Drug Administration before the Sept. 16 deadline.” 

For example, The Packer quotes Giumarra Cos. Food Safety VP Walter Ram, who served as one of the panelists, as saying, “Don’t think that your input isn’t important,” but after the rule is finalized, it “will take an act of Congress to change,” Ram emphasized. 

Separately, The Packer (5/17, Hornick, 13K) reports Sacramento-based California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement is preparing to respond to the FSMA on several levels, from “upgrading food safety training to taking a possible role” in compliance verification. The primary issue “for us is how the FDA will verify compliance,” LGMA CEO Scott Horsfall “said on the United Fresh trade show floor.” 

The group is suggesting the FDA use the California and Arizona LGMAs “as the mechanism to verify compliance once the rules are final. We just don’t want to see another layer of audits, inspections and regulations,” Horsfall added, according to The Packer.