Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 209 - Arkansas Agriculture Department › Division 02 - State Plant Board › Rule 209.02.20-001 - Produce Safety Rule and Arkansas Department of Agriculture Produce Safety Enforcement Response Rules

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
I.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Produce Safety is valuable to Arkansas' agricultural production
				and the protection of man from microbial contaminants attained during the
				growing, harvesting, packing and holding of produce for human consumption. It
				is essential to the public health and welfare that produce be handled properly
				to prevent adverse microbial effects on man.
The purpose of the rule is to provide a fair and consistent
				mechanism by which compliance with the Standards for the Growing, Harvesting,
				Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption (CFR Title 21 Part 112),
				also known as the Produce Safety Rule (PSR), as amended, and the rules written
				pursuant thereto can be achieved.
II.
DEFINITIONS
(As used in this policy)
A.
Base Civil Penalty:
The
			 midpoint of a civil penalty range. [Example: The civil penalty range for a
			 Minor Violation (1st level of enforcement) is $100.00 to $500.00. The base
			 penalty is $300.00]
B.
Level
			 of Enforcement:
The category by which a violative incident is considered
			 a first, second, third, or fourth offense. For a violation to be considered as
			 a second or subsequent offense, it must be a repeat of a violation for which a
			 previous enforcement action has been taken by the Arkansas Department of
			 Agriculture. The previous violation/violations must have occurred within the
			 past 3 years.
C.
Level 1
			 Violation:
A violative incident which does not involve human health
			 and/or safety e.g. conditions that will not cause contamination of covered
			 produce; or other incidents of noncompliance which do not create a competitive
			 disadvantage for covered farms in full compliance.
D.
Level 2 Violation:
A
			 violative incident which affects human health and/or safety e.g. conditions
			 that may cause contamination of covered produce if conditions or practices
			 continue; or other incidents of non-compliance which create a competitive
			 advantage over covered farms in full compliance; or a history of repetitive
			 violative incidents.
E.
Level
			 3 Violation:
A violative incident involving a practice, condition, or
			 situation on a covered farm that is reasonably likely to lead to:
. Serious adverse health consequences or death from the
				consumption of or exposure to covered produce;
. An imminent public health hazard is posed if corrective
				action is not taken immediately (example: edible portions of produce contacting
				a potential source of contamination).
Covered produce means: produce that is subject to the
				requirements of 21 CFR Part 112, in accordance with
				21 CFR
				112.1 and
				112.2.
				The term "covered produce" refers to the harvestable or harvested part of the
				crop (see
				21 CFR
				112.3 ).
F.
Covered produce farm:
Any
			 farm engaged in the growing, harvesting, packing, or holding of produce for
			 human consumption which is subject to the requirements of the FDA Food Safety
			 Modernization Act - Produce Safety Rule (21 CFR Part 112).
G.
Produce:
Any fruit or
			 vegetable (including mixes of intact fruits and vegetables) and includes
			 mushrooms, sprouts (irrespective of seed source), peanuts, tree nuts, and
			 herbs. A fruit is the edible reproductive body of a seed plant or tree nut
			 (such as apple, orange, and almond) such that fruit means the harvestable or
			 harvested part of a plant developed from a flower. A vegetable is the edible
			 part of an herbaceous plant (such as cabbage or potato) or fleshy fruiting body
			 of a fungus (such as white button or shiitake) grown for an edible part such
			 that vegetable means the harvestable or harvested part of any plant or fungus
			 whose fruit, fleshy fruiting bodies, seeds, roots, tubers, bulbs, stems,
			 leaves, or flower parts are used as food and includes mushrooms, sprouts, and
			 herbs (such as basil or cilantro). Produce does not include food grains meaning
			 the small, hard fruits or seeds of arable crops, or the crops bearing these
			 fruits or seeds, that are primarily grown and processed for use as meal, flour,
			 baked goods, cereals and oils rather than for direct consumption as small, hard
			 fruits or seeds (including cereal grains, pseudo cereals, oilseeds and other
			 plants used in the same fashion). Examples of food grains include barley, dent-
			 or flint-corn, sorghum, oats, rice, rye, wheat, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat,
			 and oilseeds
(e.g.,
cotton seed, flax seed, rapeseed, soybean,
			 and sunflower seed).
H.
Respondent:
A covered produce farm charged with a violation of the
			 Arkansas Produce Safety Law, as amended, and the rules written pursuant
			 thereto.