FDA to make food-safety rules more farmer-friendly

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The Food and Drug Administration says it will revise sweeping new food- safety rules proposed earlier this year after farmers complained the rules could hurt business.

Michael Taylor, FDA’s commissioner for foods, said the agency wants to make sure the rules are practical for farmers who have to abide by them. The rules proposed in January would require farmers to take new precautions against contamination, making sure workers’ hands are washed, irrigation water is clean and that animals stay out of fields, among other precautions. Food manufacturers also would have to submit food-safety plans to the government to show they are keeping their operations clean.

Those changes would in many cases require new equipment, paperwork and record keeping.

The rules would mark the first time the FDA would have real authority to regulate food on farms, and the FDA said when it proposed the rules that they could cost large farms $30,000 a year.