Since the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was passed into law in 2011, Almond Board of California (ABC) has been working on behalf of growers, huller/shellers and handlers to help them prepare for the compliance periods, which for growers or other operations covered under one of the farm definitions, begin phasing in Jan. 26, 2018.
Grower Compliance Dates
For farms exceeding $500K in annual sales, compliance kicks in on Jan. 26, 2018. If your sales are between $250K and $500K, compliance begins on Jan. 28, 2019. For those farms with annual sales less than $250K, the compliance period starts on Jan. 27, 2020.
As announced at The Almond Conference in December, ABC has been engaged with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to better understand requirements for almond growers or farms under the FSMA Produce Safety Rule. The good news is that from this engagement emerged a path forward that will enable growers (or those covered under a “farm” definition) to obtain an exemption from major provisions of the Produce Safety Rule. In order to obtain the exemption, ABC is recommending the following approach:
- Grower (Farm) provides a written disclosure to handler, stating, “Almonds are not processed to adequately reduce the presence of microorganisms of public health significance.”
- Handler, on an annual basis, provides a written assurance to the grower (or those covered under a “farm” definition), asserting, “Almonds will be subject to treatment in accordance with the requirements under the mandatory program for Salmonella reduction on almonds, or otherwise will be exported with a disclosure that they are ‘not processed to adequately reduce the presence of microorganisms of public health significance, and should be treated in accordance with the regulatory requirements of that country.’”
Implementing the above approach will enable growers (or those covered under a “farm” definition) to avoid most of the requirements under the Produce Safety Rule. To ensure all growers and handlers understand what needs to be done for the exemption, ABC is working on additional guidance and will be offering focused training in late spring. For more information, please contact Tim Birmingham at tbirmingham@almondboard.com or (209) 343-3222.
