The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is asking farmers and researchers for comments to assess risks posed by applying raw manure on fields harvested for produce.
According to the FDA, the risk assessment will consider pathogen survival and growth under different agricultural and ecological conditions (soil types, application methods and rates, storage conditions, geographic locations, climatic factors) and under different time intervals between when manure is applied and the crop harvested.
The request is part of FDA’s new food safety rule governing produce farms, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition reported.
Since regulatory action is likely, dairy producers should take notice, according to Laurie Fischer, American Dairy Coalition president. “We should be very concerned about this, and the industry needs to become very active in this process with scientific information,” she said.
FDA has indicated it will take 5-10 years to collect data and information to put forward a standard that is appropriately science- and risk-based. In the meantime, FDA has placed restrictions on how raw manure is applied to produce crops.
Comments are due by May 3. To submit comments and for a full list of information and data about on-farm practices, see FDA’s posting in the Federal Register. PD
Dave Natzke
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