Produce Safety Rule Exemptions: Who's Covered, Who's Not

FDA's Produce Safety Rule, part of FSMA, sets standards for growing, harvesting, packing and holding fruits and vegetables, but plenty of farms and crops sit outside it. The first cut is size: a farm averaging $25,000 a year or less in produce sales over the past three years, adjusted for inflation from 2011, isn't covered at all. The second is the qualified exemption: a farm averaging under $500,000 in all food sales, adjusted the same way, that sells more to qualified end-users than to everyone else follows only modified requirements. Qualified end-users are consumers, plus restaurants and retail food stores in the same state or within 275 miles. A qualified-exempt farm puts its name and full business address on its produce labels, or on a sign where it sells when there's no label, and keeps the records that show it qualifies. The third cut is the crop: an exhaustive list of produce rarely eaten raw, such as sweet corn, potatoes, winter squash and pumpkins, isn't covered. Inflation-adjusted figures change; FDA publishes the current ones. In the example below, a Wisconsin farm works out where it stands before selling to a restaurant.

The short version

• Under $25,000 a year in produce sales, three-year average, inflation-adjusted: not a covered farm.
• Qualified exemption: under $500,000 in all food sales, and more than half sold to qualified end-users.
• Qualified end-users: consumers, and restaurants or stores in your state or within 275 miles.
• Qualified-exempt farms: name and full address on the label or a sign, plus records.
• Rarely-eaten-raw crops, like sweet corn and potatoes, aren't covered at all.
• Produce sold for commercial processing with a kill step can be exempt, with paperwork.
• TaroStack records which lots went to which customer, the record a qualified exemption leans on. More below.

The three cuts

The farm stand side is in how to start a farm stand, and selling to restaurants in how to sell to restaurants.

The rules

FDA can withdraw a qualified exemption after an outbreak tied to the farm. This is general information, not legal advice.

An example: a Wisconsin farm checks where it stands

Honey Creek Farm, a made-up vegetable and berry farm near Baraboo, Wisconsin, sells at its roadside stand, through a CSA, and to one grocery distributor. A restaurant in Madison asked for weekly tomatoes and salad greens. Its last three years averaged:

At $96,000 in produce, the farm is well over the $25,000 line, so it's a covered farm unless the qualified exemption applies. It does: $112,000 is under $500,000, and $70,000 to qualified end-users beats $42,000 to the distributor. The Madison restaurant, 40 miles away in the same state, is a qualified end-user too, so the new account keeps the balance tipped the right way. Honey Creek now prints its name and full address on its berry pint labels and on the stand's sign, and keeps the sales records that show the split each year. Its sweet corn and winter squash are on the rarely-eaten-raw list and aren't covered either way. Its stand opening is in how to start a farm stand, and the honey on its shelf in how to label honey for sale.

Get the checker

Download the produce safety rule checker. Two sheets: your three years of sales, produce, all food, and food sold to qualified end-users and to everyone else, with the current inflation-adjusted thresholds you type in from FDA; whether you're covered and whether the qualified exemption applies fill in; and your crops, each checked against the rarely-eaten-raw list. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

The checker needs three years of sales split by who bought them. If the stand, the CSA and the distributor are in three different notebooks, that split is a guess, and it's the number the exemption rests on.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps each sale with its customer, so the split comes from the records.

Customers on every order. Each order records the customer, so sales to the distributor and to the café are kept apart, and every list exports to a spreadsheet.

Lots on every order. Each harvest can be received or recorded as a lot, and each order records the lots it got, so one recall report shows who got a lot of greens.

Counts with no signal. The stand's cooler can be counted on a phone with no signal.

Orders, lots and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

Does the produce safety rule apply to my farm?

Not if your produce sales averaged $25,000 a year or less over three years, adjusted for inflation; above that, check the qualified exemption and whether your crops are covered.

What is the qualified exemption?

An exemption for farms with under $500,000 in average food sales, adjusted, that sell more to consumers and nearby restaurants and stores than to everyone else; they follow modified requirements.

What produce is not covered by the produce safety rule?

An exhaustive list of produce rarely eaten raw, such as sweet corn, potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins, beets and dry beans, plus produce for your own or on-farm use.

What does a qualified exempt farm have to do?

Put the farm's name and complete business address on produce labels, or on a sign where it sells, and keep records showing it qualifies.