New Requirements for Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water
In May 2024, the FDA released a?final rule?revising the requirements for Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water. When these changes were first introduced, it was helpful to clarify that they specifically pertain to Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water requirements, different from the?Harvest and Post-Harvest requirements?already in place. So, what are the changes?
The new Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water provisions mandate an annual Agricultural Water Assessment aimed at identifying hazards and managing risks. This assessment reviews factors such as the location and nature of the water source, the method of water application to the crop, environmental conditions, and specific crop conditions that could increase the risk of hazards.
The FDA provides a helpful?online version?of the Agricultural Water Assessment. If you’d prefer to conduct the assessment offline or save it to your HeavyConnect account, you can access it from the HeavyConnect?template library?(note: the link only works if you have a HeavyConnect account) or contact our customer success team at?[email protected].
Additionally, the requirements outline two further steps beyond the assessment. After the initial assessment, the farm must analyze whether corrective actions or mitigations are needed. The FDA has released a helpful?one-page guide?to assist with this process. The final step is a managerial review of the assessment.
For more information on the rule, including compliance dates (April 2025, 2026, and 2027, depending on the size of your organization) and exemptions, you can visit the FDA’s release at?this link here.
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Please feel free to reach out to HeavyConnect at?[email protected]?if you’d like to ask any more questions about the rule, or how to use our platform to carry out any of your Agricultural Water recordkeeping.
By Kes Harper , Project Manager at HeavyConnect.