may-jun-2019

IN YOUR ORCHARD Power in Partnership: Proactive Almond Industry Exempted from Regulation For the past three years, California almond producers have been striving to meet the demands of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Produce Safety Rule, which was finalized in 2016 as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Since the rule’s passing, the Almond Board of California (ABC), the Almond Alliance of California and other groups have walked alongside almond growers and huller/shellers to help them determine how the Produce Safety Rule applies to them, provide resources, and host training workshops where growers could learn more about what they needed to do to be in compliance. Then, on March 27, 2019, the FDA issued a final Guidance Document, announcing the use of enforcement discretion for certain commodities covered under the Produce Safety Rule – including almonds. In the Guidance Document, the FDA states, “We will not expect entities growing, harvesting, packing, or holding these commodities to meet any of the Produce Safety Regulation requirements.” In simple terms, as long as the Enforcement Discretion remains in effect, almond growers and huller/shellers are no longer subject to Produce Safety requirements. The FDA has indicated that they will explore this topic further and consider pursuing rulemaking to address the unique circumstances of almonds. The ramifications of this Guidance and use of Enforcement Discretion for almonds are immense. “This is a monumental achievement for our industry and a tribute to the extensive investments in food safety that the almond industry has made that started long before the enactment of FSMA. With this recent announcement by the FDA, our industry can now remain focused on the food safety issues that are most relevant without unnecessarily spending our valuable resources to just comply with a regulation,” said Brian Dunning, chair of ABC’s Almond Quality and Food Safety committee. HowWe Got Here: ABC, Others’ Work with FDA During the rulemaking process, ABC remained engaged with the FDA, educating on industry practices and providing comments on draft rules along the way. When the final Produce Safety Rule was published, ABC was concerned that the rule did not take into account the fact that almonds were already subject to controls for pathogens such as Salmonella . Recognizing this, ABC continued to work with the FDA, hosting and participating in a number of meetings and tours to educate the FDA on industry food safety practices, including the mandatory pasteurization program. And that hard work finally paid off. In an FDA release from March 27, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., said, “We’ve worked closely with food producers to implement FSMA’s Produce Safety Rule… As part of this collaborative process, we’ve received important feedback on the application of this rule from stakeholders of certain commodities, including hops, wine grapes, pulse crops and almonds. Given the nature of these specific commodities, and the low risk that these products pose because of the way that they’re 3 4 A L M O N D F A C T S