(This Action Alert is Over.)
The FDA announced late this morning that they are extending the public comment period on the draft rules for the Food Safety Modernization Act by seven days to Friday, November 22. Cornucopia, as have other organizations, has been critical of the increasing amounts of downtime experienced by the FDA’s electronic portal for commenting at Regulations.gov.
We have been working with elected officials and regulators to obtain an extension. In announcing the extension, and in an email to Cornucopia, the FDA’s Susan Berndt wrote:
“We are concerned about the intermittent technical difficulties that have occurred in November with the website www.regulations.gov, which have prevented some people from submitting comments. We know that these difficulties are inconvenient and very frustrating.
For that reason, to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to comment, FDA is providing more time for comments on both the proposed rule on produce safety and preventive controls for human food for an additional 7 days. This means that the comment period, which was scheduled to end today, November 15, will be extended until November 22.”
We encourage everyone who has yet to comment, or has been unable to do so, to take advantage of the new deadline for submittal of their important feedback. The food produced by our nation’s best and safest farmers, and treasured by all of us, is worth the effort to protect.
