2024-21840. Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption: What You Need To Know About the Food and Drug Administration Regulation; Small Entity Compliance Guide; Availability

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Department of Health and Human Services

Food and Drug Administration

1. 21 CFR Part 112
2. [Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0921]

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notification of availability.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, the Agency, or we) is announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption: What You Need to Know About the FDA Regulation: Small Entity Compliance Guide.” We are updating the small entity compliance guide (SECG) to help small entities comply with revised requirements related to agricultural water in the “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption” regulation.

DATES:

The announcement of the guidance is published in the Federal Register on September 24, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit either electronic or written comments on Agency guidances at any time as follows:

Electronic Submissions

Submit electronic comments in the following way:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal:https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment does not include any confidential information that you or a third party may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.
• If you want to submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner detailed (see “Written/Paper Submissions” and “Instructions”).

Written/Paper Submissions

Submit written/paper submissions as follows:

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
• For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, as confidential, if submitted as detailed in “Instructions.”

Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0921 for “What You Need to Know About the FDA Regulation: ( print page 77776) Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption—Small Entity Compliance Guide.” Received comments will be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as “Confidential Submissions,” publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 240-402-7500.

• Confidential Submissions—To submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states “THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.” The Agency will review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing and posted onhttps://www.regulations.gov. Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and you must identify this information as “confidential.” Any information marked as “confidential” will not be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/​content/​pkg/​FR-2015-09-18/​pdf/​2015-23389.pdf.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in the heading of this document, into the “Search” box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240-402-7500.

You may submit comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5)).

Submit written requests for single copies of the SECG to the Office of Food Safety, Division of Produce Safety (HFS-317), Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, 5001 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20740. Send two self-addressed adhesive labels to assist that office in processing your request. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for electronic access to the SECG.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Samir Assar, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, 5001 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20740, 240-402-1636.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

In the Federal Register of November 27, 2015 (80 FR 74353), we issued a final rule entitled “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption” (produce safety rule). The produce safety rule, which is codified at part 112 (21 CFR part 112), established science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of produce, meaning fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption. On September 6, 2017 (82 FR 42031) we announced the availability of a guidance for industry entitled “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption: What You Need to Know About the FDA Regulation: Small Entity Compliance Guide” to help small entities comply with the produce safety rule.

In the Federal Register of May 6, 2024 (89 FR 37448), we issued a final rule entitled, “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption Relating to Agricultural Water” (agricultural water final rule) that revised certain requirements in subpart E of part 112 (21 CFR 112.40 through 112.50) of the produce safety rule applicable to pre-harvest agricultural water for covered produce (other than sprouts). The agricultural water final rule is effective July 5, 2024. The final rule establishes compliance dates for the pre-harvest agricultural water provisions for covered produce (other than sprouts) beginning on April 7, 2025, with date staggering based on farm size.

We examined the economic implications of the agricultural water final rule as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601-612) and determined that the final rule might have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. In compliance with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (Pub. L. 104-121, as amended by Pub. L. 110-28), we are making available the SECG to explain the actions that a small entity must take to comply with the rule.

We are issuing the SECG consistent with our good guidance practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115(c)(2)). The SECG represents the current thinking of FDA on this topic. It does not establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA or the public. You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations.

II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

While this guidance contains no collection of information, it does refer to previously approved FDA collections of information. The previously approved collections of information are subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521). The collections of information in part 112 have been approved under OMB control number 0910-0816.

III. Electronic Access

Persons with access to the internet may obtain the SECG at either https://www.fda.gov/​FoodGuidances, https://www.fda.gov/​regulatory-information/​search-fda-guidance-documents, or https://www.regulations.gov. Use the FDA website listed in the previous sentence to find the most current version of the guidance.

Dated: September 19, 2024.

Lauren K. Roth,

Associate Commissioner for Policy.