BRUNSWICK, ME – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) released the following statement in response to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) announcement that the agency is updating four of its previously-proposed rules to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) after hearing concerns from King and others that the resulting regulations would have unduly burdened small and midsized farmers:

“I am encouraged to see that the FDA is beginning to listen to the voices of Maine’s farmers who have said repeatedly that the regulatory structure originally designed for FSMA was going to cripple many of their farms and reduce the amount of local food at our markets and roadside stands,” Senator King said. “My staff and I will continue to review the revised regulations and work alongside farmers with the FDA to ensure that the final rules are the product of sound scientific and economic analysis, and meet the goals of everyone involved.”

Revisions in the new proposed rules include:

• Change in the required frequency of irrigation water tests
• Removal of impractical nine-month manure restriction, pending joint FDA research with the U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Reworking of the definition of “farm income”

King has actively engaged the FDA on the FSMA rules since they were first proposed in 2013, emphasizing the importance of farmer participation in the rulemaking process. He was part of a bipartisan, bicameral group of New England lawmakers that sent a letter to the FDA in May of 2013 urging the agency to hold public hearings in New England to hear concerns from farmers. The FDA subsequently agreed to hold several listening sessions in the region, including one at the Augusta Armory in August of 2013. FDA officials also toured several Maine farms.

King later joined an even larger bipartisan, bicameral group on a letter in November of 2013 to the FDA urging the agency to issue a second round of proposed rules to address the many concerns they heard from farmers around the country before issuing final rules. The FDA agreed to do so, and released the second round of proposed rules today. 

The FDA will accept comments on the newly-prosed rules starting on Monday, September 29. The comment period will last 75 days, and the agency will consider new comments before issuing final rules in 2015.

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