The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) today announced that it is extending to Nov. 22 (next Friday) the public comment period on the agency's proposed rule on produce safety and preventive controls for human food, due to technical difficulties with the Regulations.gov website.

The FDA-CFSAN notice read:

We are very interested in your comments on the proposed rule on produce safety and preventive controls for human food and have made every effort to encourage input since they were first published in January 2013. Our efforts include extending the comment period twice, holding three public meetings, and visiting farms across the country.

That is why 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 seven additional days for comments on both the proposed rule on produce safety and preventive controls for human food. This means that the close of the comment period, which was scheduled for today, Nov. 15, will now be Nov. 22.

We are expediting publication of a notice in the Federal Register. You can continue to submit your comments at www.regulations.gov.

We appreciate your patience and look forward to receiving your comments.

Also today, FDA-CFSAN said it is extending the comment period for the “Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Rule: Standards for Growing, Harvesting, Packing and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption.” The Notice of Intent appeared in the Federal Register on Aug. 19 of this year, and comments were originally due by Nov. 15 (today). Today's extension allows for comments on the scope of issues FDA should include in the Environmental Impact Statement to be submitted until March 15, 2014.

Comments may be submitted electronically on www.regulations.gov, using the docket number FDA-2011-N-0921.

To submit comments by mail, send to FDA at:

Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061
Rockville, MD 20852

All submissions must include the agency name and docket number FDA-2011-N-0921.

For additional information, see:

• Federal Register Notice: Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Rule Standards for Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption, Extension of Comment Period

For more information on the proposed rule on produce safety and preventive controls for human food, as well as other proposed regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), visit http://www.fda.gov/fsma.