Department of Health and Human Services April 22, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing a public meeting to elicit information on the current science related to foodborne illness associated with the consumption of sprouts. In October 2004, FDA released a produce safety action plan entitled ``Produce Safety from Production to Consumption: 2004 Action Plan to Minimize Foodborne Illness Associated with Fresh Produce Consumption'' (Produce Action Plan). One item in the Produce Action Plan is to initiate rulemaking to minimize foodborne illness associated with the consumption of sprouted seeds. However, because of the complexities of the issues and the uncertainty about what the current science could support, FDA believes that it would be of value to hold a public meeting to gather information relevant to a possible regulation. We request that those who speak at the meeting, or otherwise provide FDA with their comments, focus on the questions relating to the microbial safety of seeds destined for sprouting and sprouted seeds set out in section II of this document.