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          Guidance for Industry: 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 ConsumptionSearch for FDA Guidance Documents GUIDANCE DOCUMENT
	Guidance for Industry: 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
					
		
		April 2023


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    PrintDocket Number:
		    FDA-2023-D-1031
	    	    		    Issued by:
		    Guidance Issuing Office
          Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition


This guidance is intended for farms subject to the Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption (Produce Safety Rule) (21 CFR Part 112). For certain farms, the Produce Safety Rule provides a qualified exemption; qualified exempt farms are subject to modified rule requirements. During the COVID-19 public health emergency as declared by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), FDA provided certain temporary flexibilities related to eligibility criteria for the qualified exemption. This 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 and back to the qualified exemption eligibility criteria as established in the Produce Safety Rule.

FDA’s guidance documents, including this guidance, do not establish legally enforceable responsibilities. Instead, guidances describe our current thinking on a topic and should be viewed only as recommendations, unless specific regulatory or statutory requirements are cited. The use of the word *should*in FDA guidances means that something is suggested or recommended, but not required.

**Download the Guidance**

Related Information

Constituent Update: FDA Issues Guidance for Qualified Exempt Farms that Utilized Temporary Flexibilities During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (April 13, 2023)
	Produce & Plant Products Guidance Documents & Regulatory Information
	Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
	FSMA Final Rule on Produce Safety
	Food Safety and COVID-19 (ARCHIVED)
	FDA COVID-19 InformationSubmit Comments
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					You can submit online or written comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR 10.115(g)(5))
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						All written comments should be identified with this document's docket number: FDA-2023-D-1031.

                                                                                  Content current as of:
      04/14/2023
         
                  
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