<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Naples,Fl-</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">1.23.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>The FDA’s proposed food safety rules are facing strong discontent among Southwest Florida growers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/fda012313body.jpg" alt="Images012313" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"We are already doing so much," said Cecil Howell, an Immokalee tomato and bell pepper grower. "I don't know how much more we could do."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Signed into law two years ago, the act represents a major shift in the agency’s approach to food safety – the focus would move to prevention of rather than reaction to microbial contamination. The implementation of the rules has been stalled for over a year in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Howell, co-owner of H&R Farms, a 400-acre farm about 20 miles east of Immokalee, said he spends at least 50 percent of his day doing paperwork for his employees and handling record-keeping for the farm.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Today, he spends about $30,000 annually to comply with food safety regulations.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"I don't know what they are going to come up with to make food safer," he said.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Conversely, a statewide organization representing growers welcomed the end of the long wait.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Mike Stuart, president of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, said in a statement the industry has been in limbo while the FDA wrote the proposed rules.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"This is a step in the right direction, although it's been a long time coming," Stuart said in the statement.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The association said it remains to be seen how the new rules — 1,200 pages total to be published in the Federal Register — will affect Florida growers and shippers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Once the rules are published in the Federal Register, a 120-day public comment period will follow before they would take effect.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The proposed rules include require that imported produce must comply with the same standards.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Gene McAvoy, a multi-county vegetable agent in Southwest Florida with the University of Florida/IFAS, said small growers may feel the financial sting more acutely as many large growers’ production processes already comply with the act. However, it costs big growers more than $100,000 to comply with the FDA rules.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Oakes Farm Market owner Al Oakes said he is against the government getting involved in the produce industry.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"The reason that the FDA is doing it is not for the public's safety, it's just to give more power to the government and less power to free enterprise," he said.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Every time FDA rules are changed, Oakes said, the consumer ends up paying more for produce.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/jan/22/southwest-florida-growers-leery-cost-fda-rules/ " target="_new">Naplesnews </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
