FDA publishes final rule on agricultural water

The Food and Drug Administration has published a final rule on agricultural water that replaces certain preharvest agricultural water requirements for covered produce (other than sprouts) in the 2015 produce safety rule. The new rule requires systems-based agricultural water assessments to determine and guide appropriate measures to minimize potential risks associated with preharvest agricultural water.

The FDA said the rule:

• Establishes requirements for agricultural water assessments that evaluate a variety of factors that are key determinants of contamination risks associated with preharvest agricultural water. This includes an evaluation of the water system, water-use practices, crop characteristics, environmental conditions, potential impacts on water from adjacent and nearby land and other relevant factors.
• Includes testing preharvest agricultural water as part of an assessment in certain circumstances.
• Requires farms to implement effective mitigation measures within specific timeframes based on findings from their assessments. Hazards related to certain activities associated with adjacent and nearby land uses are subject to expedited mitigation.
• Adds new options for mitigation measures, providing farms with additional flexibility in responding to findings from their preharvest agricultural water assessments.

Farms must conduct assessments of their preharvest agricultural water annually, and whenever a significant change occurs, to identify any conditions likely to introduce known or reasonably foreseeable hazards into or onto covered produce or food contact surfaces, according to the FDA.

The FDA said these revised requirements reflect recent science, findings from investigations of several produce-related outbreaks and feedback from a variety of stakeholders on the agricultural water requirements in the Produce Safety Rule, which were previously published in 2015. These revisions will more comprehensively address a known route of microbial contamination that can lead to preventable foodborne illness.

The rule also finalizes the dates for compliance with the preharvest agricultural water requirements for non-sprout-covered produce as follows:

• For very small farms — 2 years, 9 months after the effective date of the final rule.
• For small farms — 1 year, 9 months after the effective date of the final rule.
• For all other farms — 9 months after the effective date of the final rule.

The FDA said the new rule does not alter existing requirements for agricultural water for sprouts, for which compliance dates have passed. It also does not alter existing requirements for harvest and postharvest agricultural water activities. Additional information about compliance dates can be found on the FDA Proposes Compliance Date Extension for Preharvest Agricultural Water Requirements webpage.

The FDA said it released several fact sheets, including one that provides an overview of agriculture water assessments and mitigation measures, and another that offers more details on factors for conducting these assessments. These resources are available in Spanish. The agency said it also updated its Agriculture Water Assessment Builder.

The agency said it will work with state partners to implement the changes proposed in this new rule and with state regulators, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, educators and others, including the Produce Safety Alliance to provide the necessary training to implement the changes proposed in this rule.

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Source: The Packer

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