See also: "FDA rolls out first rules on federal food safety
law." The costs to fruit and vegetable growers for complying
with the newly proposed produce safety regulation have been
estimated at more than $30,000 annually for large farms and
about $13,000 per year for smaller farms. Those figures come
from the Food and Drug Administration’s cost-and-benefit
analysis of the produce safety rule regulation, one of two
proposed Food Safety Modernization Act components released Jan.
4. The FDA estimates the new food safety regulations on growing
and packing will prevent 1.75 million foodborne illnesses
annually. The proposed rule imposes new standards on growers for
worker training and hygiene, agricultural water purity,
biological soil amendments, equipment, tools and buildings.
Exemptions to the proposed rule were carved out for produce
commodities rarely consumed raw, produce used for personal or
on-farm consumption, produce that receives a “kill step” to
reduce the presence of microorganisms and farms with aver