On January 26, 2022, FDA published a constituent update reminding produce stakeholders about FDA’s intention to exercise enforcement discretion for agriculture water requirements for covered produce, except for those related to sprouts, which are subject to unique requirements.  The agricultural water regulations apply to farms subject to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rules.

As previously reported, the enforcement discretion was initially announced in a proposed rule on agricultural water in which FDA proposed to replace pre-harvest microbial quality criteria and testing requirements with new system-based pre-harvest agricultural water assessments.

In the proposed rule, FDA acknowledged that current agricultural water compliance dates are set to begin in January 2022 and that, in turn, the agency intends to exercise enforcement discretion for covered produce (except sprouts). FDA will work to complete compliance date rulemaking as soon as possible. In the meantime, FDA reminds covered farms that they should continue implementing good agricultural practices to maintain the quality of their water sources