With the COVID-19 pandemic’s classification as a Public Health Emergency comes to an end, temporary flexibilities granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to aid the food industry through the pandemic are set to expire. The COVID-19 public health emergency will officially end on May 11, 2023 in the U.S., and FDA has provided a Federal Register notice detailing the 10 relevant policies and their expiration dates.

On April 14, 2023, FDA also issued a guidance for industry, titled, Transition from Temporary Policy During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Regarding the Qualified Exemption from the Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption. The guidance is intended for qualified exempt farms subject to the Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption (Produce Safety Rule). Exempt farms are subject to modified Produce Safety Rule requirements. The guidance document communicates FDA’s current thinking on how, when the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency expires, qualified exempt farms may transition away from those temporary policies (listed below) and back to the qualified exemption eligibility criteria as established in the Produce Safety Rule.