The Federal Food and Drug Administration has extended the deadline for public comments on two draft Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules by 3 months. The original deadline for comments was February 15th, but that would have given the public just 30 days to comment following publication of the draft rules in the Federal Register on January 4th and January 16th.  The FDA extended the deadline after numerous complaints from affected parties.

The two rules open for comment cover preventive controls for human food and produce safety standards for human consumption.

Public Meetings on the Rules

As part of the initial submission of the drafts, the FDA had stated that it would hold public meetings to discuss the rules. These meeting dates are now set as February 28 through March 1, 2013 as published in the Federal Register January 31 and February 13, 2013.

All of this is short notice for producers, but their participation is critical.