Anonymous - Comment

Document ID: FDA-2011-N-0920-0133
Document Type: Public Submission
Agency: Food And Drug Administration
Received Date: April 10 2013, at 12:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Date Posted: May 6 2013, at 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
Comment Start Date: January 31 2013, at 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
Comment Due Date: May 16 2013, at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time
Tracking Number: 1jx-84p4-163c
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This is comment on Proposed Rule

Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption: Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food; Public Meeting

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We ask the comment period be extended an additional 180 days. FSMA/FDA's new rules will have a huge impact on the growers in this area as well as the U S fresh produce industry. FDA took two years to write the proposed rules. An extended comment period for affected agricultural interests and busnesses is justified. To date there has never been a documented food safety issue with dry bulb onions. Onions have a protective covering, and a curing process that greatly reduces food safety risks. Onions are never consumed without first being peeled. Because of these factors we feel that dry bulb onions should be exempt. If not exempt, meeting the irrigation water specifications stemming from FSMA will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve, and testing water used for onion irrigation every 7 days is impractical, costly, and time consuming.