Source:  NCSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION, 1/6/22

At the time of this update (January, 2022), the regulatory compliance dates for most provisions within the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), Produce Safety Rule (PSR) have been met and farms of all sizes are currently subject to inspection under this rule. Because there were many comments made to the FDA regarding the requirements of Subpart E – Agricultural Water, in March, 2019, the FDA extended the compliance dates for this portion of the PSR (FDA–2011–N–0921) in order to gather more information about the types of water used on farms and how the provisions could be structured to make them easier for growers to understand and implement while still providing a measure of public health safety for consumers. This announcement extended all provisions of Subpart E – Agricultural Water, other than sprouts, for two additional years and included the safe and sanitary quality, annual inspection, and post-harvest water monitoring requirements. With this extension, the new compliance dates for subpart E – Agricultural Water became January, 2022 for large farms, January, 2023 for small farms, and January, 2024 for very small farms. Even though these provisions were extended, all farms are still responsible for the safe growing, harvesting, and holding of fresh produce and should consider the sanitary quality of the water that they use because both pre- and post-harvest water has been linked with many produce-related, foodborne outbreaks and recalls.

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