Reducing Microbial Food Safety Hazards in the Production of Seed for Sprouting; Guidance for Industry; Availability

AGENCY:

Food and Drug Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice of availability.

SUMMARY:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, the Agency, or we) is announcing the availability of a final guidance for industry entitled “Reducing Microbial Food Safety Hazards in the Production of Seed for Sprouting.” This final guidance is intended to inform the sprout seed industry (seed growers, conditioners, packers, holders, suppliers, and distributors) of FDA's serious concern with the continuing outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with the consumption of raw and lightly cooked sprouts and provide FDA's recommendations to firms throughout the production chain of seed for sprouting.

DATES:

The announcement of the guidance is published in the Federal Register on May 16, 2022.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit either electronic or written comments on Agency guidances at any time as follows:

Electronic Submissions

Submit electronic comments in the following way:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted electronically, including attachments, to https://www.regulations.gov will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment does not include any confidential information that you or a third party may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone else's Social Security number, or confidential business information, such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in the body of your comments, that information will be posted on https://www.regulations.gov.

• If you want to submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made available to the public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner detailed (see “Written/Paper Submissions” and “Instructions”).

Written/Paper Submissions

Submit written/paper submissions as follows:

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier (for written/paper submissions): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.

• For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets Management Staff, FDA will post your comment, as well as any attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified, as confidential, if submitted as detailed in “Instructions.”

Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No. FDA-2018-D-4534 for “Reducing Microbial Food Safety Hazards in the Production of Seed for Sprouting: Guidance for Industry.” Received comments will be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as “Confidential Submissions,” publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, 240-402-7500.

• Confidential Submissions—To submit a comment with confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states “THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.” We will review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in our consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be available for public viewing and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. If you do not wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available, you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body of your comments and you must identify this information as “confidential.” Any information marked as “confidential” will not be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or access the information at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in the heading of this document, into the “Search” box and follow the prompts and/or go to the Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852, 240-402-7500.

You may submit comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5)).

Submit written requests for single copies of the guidance to the Office of Food Safety, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, 5001 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20740. Send two self-addressed adhesive labels to assist that office in processing your request. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for electronic access to the guidance.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patricia Homola, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, 5001 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20740, 240-402-1700; or Lauren Kleinman, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Regulations and Policy (HFS-024), Food and Drug Administration, 5001 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20740, 240-402-2378.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

We are announcing the availability of a guidance for industry entitled “Reducing Microbial Food Safety Hazards in the Production of Seed for Sprouting.” This guidance is intended to inform the sprout seed industry (seed growers, conditioners, packers, holders, suppliers, and distributors) of our serious concern with the continuing outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with the consumption of raw and lightly cooked sprouts and provide our recommendations to firms throughout the production chain of seed for sprouting. We are issuing the guidance consistent with our good guidance practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115). The guidance represents the current thinking of FDA on this topic. It does not establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA or the public. You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations.

In the Federal Register of June 25, 2019 (84 FR 29867), we announced a draft guidance for industry and gave interested parties an opportunity to submit comments by August 26, 2019, for us to consider before beginning work on the final version of the guidance. We received 10 comments on the draft guidance and have modified the final guidance where appropriate. Changes to the guidance include the addition of examples, information about the scope of recommendations pertaining to cleaning and sanitizing of wet and dry food contact surfaces, information about testing seed for sprouting, research related to the source of contamination in sprout-related outbreaks, and updated recommendations related to proximity of seed growing operations to a domestic animal raising farm. The guidance announced in this notice finalizes the draft guidance dated June 2019.

II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

This guidance contains no collection of information. Therefore, clearance by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521) is not required.

III. Electronic Access

Persons with access to the internet may obtain the guidance at either https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents or https://www.regulations.gov. Use the FDA website listed in the previous sentence to find the most current version of the guidance.