Water safety testing requirements for growers under the Food Safety Modernization Act are being reconsidered by the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, says a Yakima grower who testified for federal specialty crop funding.

YAKIMA, Wash. — Any federal water testing requirements imposed on farms need to be risk-based and reasonable to implement, a Yakima tree fruit grower told a congressional subcommittee. The federal agency that will implement the new rule is reviewing it.

Sean Gilbert, general manager of Gilbert Orchards Inc. in Yakima, was one of five farm producers from around the nation who testified before the Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee on March 9 as it considers specialty crop funding in the next farm bill.

Water testing requirements of the Produce Safety rule of the Food Safety Modernization Act “are unnecessarily burdensome, costly and not based on risk,” said Gilbert, a fifth generation producer and packer of conventional and organic apples, cherries, pears, stone fruit and wine grapes.

Gilbert said he’s pleased that Stephen Ostroff, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told industry representatives Feb. 16 that the agency is reconsidering the entire water quality section of the rule in light of industry opposition.

“Initial compliance dates for the Produce Safety rule are January of 2018, but Dr. Ostroff and his staff indicated those dates would likely be delayed for the water quality requirements,” Gilbert said.

Further, FSMA regulations of packing houses are vague and confusing regarding which packing operations fall under which rules, he said.

Noting the Washington tree fruit industry contributes through assessments more than $3.8 million annually to research and is making a $32 million contribution in Washington State University endowments over several years for tree fruit research, Gilbert asked the subcommittee to expand farm bill funding for the federal Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), specialty crop block grants and funding for the Agricultural Research Service, among other items.

SCRI provided a grant used to develop a machine vision system that is a critical component of an automated robotic apple harvester being developed by a California company, Gilbert said.

http://www.capitalpress.com/AP_Nation_World/20170310/produce-safety-water-rule-reconsidered