The US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) final rule on pre-harvest agricultural water provisions under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule went into effect July 5, 2024. Specifically, this rule "replaces the previous microbial quality criteria and testing requirements for pre-harvest agricultural water for covered produce (other than sprouts) with requirements for systems-based, pre-harvest agricultural water assessments for hazard identification and risk management decision-making purposes."
Under this final rule, farms that are subject to the requirements in the Produce Safety Rule are required to conduct yearly agricultural water assessments, as well as another assessment whenever a significant change occurs that increases the likelihood that a known or reasonably foreseeable hazard will be introduced into or onto produce or food contact surfaces. The rule also specifies the kind of corrective or mitigation measures that farms are required to take based on the outcomes of the water assessments.
Read more at attra.ncat.org