WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration is holding public meetings for proposed produce safety and preventive controls rules.
The meetings will be held on Feb. 28 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and March 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Jefferson Auditorium at 14th and Independence Avenue in Washington. The rules under consideration relate to standards for the growing, harvesting, packing and holding of produce for human consumption, and for current good manufacturing practice and hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls for human food. The F.D.A. first announced the proposed rules at the beginning of January.
These are the first of several proposed rules to establish the foundation and framework of the modern food safety system in the Food Safety Modernization Act. The meetings are designed for comments from the public and stakeholders on the proposed rules, to inform the public about the rulemaking process and respond to questions.
The closing date to request an oral comment is Feb. 8, while Feb. 20 is the closing data for advance registration, and May 16 is the closing date to submit comments to F.D.A.’s Division of Dockets Management.