New Food Safety Proposals Will Not Apply to Wineries

By Cary M. Greene

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued proposed regulations last week that would implement the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) passed in January 2011.  WineAmerica has been urging its members to register their facilities with FDA this winter and also reporting on why the registration requirements were a legislative victory for American wineries.  With FDA’s initial release of FSMA proposed regulations, the victory for wineries is becoming clearer.

FDA is proposing new Good Manufacturing Standards for most “food” producers.  Ordinarily, this would include wineries, but FDA’s proposal specifically notes that alcohol beverage producers, including wineries, are largely exempt.

FDA’s new proposed produce handling requirements, likewise only covers fruit and vegetables grown for raw consumption.  Produce that is not sold as a raw agricultural commodity is specifically exempted from the new standards.  This means that wineries will be completely free from the new handling requirements, assuming they don’t sell grapes for the fresh market, since wine is considered “processed” under FDA rubric.

These new proposals are a perfect illustration of the value WineAmerica can provide.  Our efforts to exclude wine from the FSMA are now ensuring that wineries can continue to do business without the regulatory confusion that would be created by the entry of FDA into wine regulation.

Congress Sidelines Specialty Crop Funding in Tax Legislation

The following is a press release from the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, of which WineAmerica is a member.


For Immediate Release – January 2, 2013

Congress Sidelines Specialty Crop Funding in Tax Legislation

Tax measure extends 2008 Farm Bill, but excludes key specialty crop programs

WASHINGTON, DC – The passage of a fiscal package late Tuesday evening excluded key specialty crop priorities. While the bill does avert the dreaded “fiscal cliff,” efforts to roll a new five-year Farm Bill into the bill were rejected in favor of a nine month extension of the 2008 law. The extension does not include funding for certain expiring programs such as the Specialty Crop Research Initiative and Clean Plant Network.

“It’s disappointing, to say the least,” said Mike Stuart, Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association president and Alliance Co-Chair. “We had worked very hard with key members in the House and Senate to craft a Farm Bill that was fiscally responsible and gave producers resources, such as research funding for pest and disease programs, that they need to remain competitive and to ensure a safe, healthful supply of fruits and vegetables.”

The tax package bill was passed by a vote of 89-8 in the Senate, and was approved in the House with a vote of 257-167.

The Farm Bill will need to be redrafted in the coming months and reconsidered by both chambers before the September 30, 2013 deadline. The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance will continue to communicate the importance of specialty crop programs to lawmakers on Capitol Hill as this process moves forward in the 113^th Congress.

“While we are frustrated, we look forward to working with both committees and the dozens of members of Congress who helped complete the 2012 Farm Bill,” said John Keeling, National Potato Council executive vice president and CEO, and Alliance Co-Chair. “As has been the case for more than a decade, we will be working to ensure that innovative investments for the 50 percent of American agriculture represented by specialty crops are fairly accounted for in the Farm Bill.”

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The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance is a national coalition of more than 120 organizations representing growers of fruits, vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, nursery plants and other products. The alliance was established to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crop agriculture and improve the health of Americans by broadening the scope of U.S. agricultural public policy. For more information, visit www.strongeragriculture.org.

 

An Emerging Trend For Wine Exporters

By Cary Greene

If you’re exporting wine, or thinking about it, you should be aware of an emerging trend relating to foreign registrations and inspections.  The implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has been hot topic recently, particularly with respect to the new registration requirements contained in that law.

But FSMA also gave the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) greater power to inspect foreign and domestic facilities.  While wineries are largely shielded from these new powers due to a first of its kind exemption that limits FDA’s authority over wine regulation, FSMA’s inspection provisions seems to be starting a problematic trend—in the form of retaliatory foreign registrations and inspections.

China, Canada, Russia, Vietnam and Indonesia, are in the process of implementing legislation that directly responds to FSMA.  In apparent protest of FDA’s new powers, these countries are giving their local agencies registration and inspection authority over U.S. producers.

While we’ve have heard no reports of actual inspections, we’ve expressed our concern with the Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB).  Foreign inspections would pose a host of practical and business problems for American wineries.  It should be up to TTB to determine whether a producer is complying with U.S. production laws, and we will work with the agency to ensure there is a clear plan to deal with this potentially significant problem.

New Mobile App Becomes Market Share Leader for American Wineries and Wine Trails

America's Wine Trails has partnered with two of the largest names in the wine industry, Wines & Vines  and WineAmerica to launch the most comprehensive winery app for today's mobile consumer.

America's Wine Trails, LLC announces a new Free mobile app showcasing over 6,000 wineries and 270  wine trails in the United States. The app is available at the Apple and Android app stores. It also available as an HTML5 version that can be used on any mobile browser.

"Our goal is connecting people with wineries. Our mission is to promote local wine in all regions of the country. Providing mobile access to thousands of wineries across North America is one way to do it. We know that this is a great way to reach millions of wine consumers in an environment where they are most engaged; their Smartphones."  - Vince Manzer,  America's Wine Trails, LLC.

Even in a slow economy, the wine industry is growing at a steady pace bolstering winery tourism.  With an industry push to reach Millennials and with over 100 million Smartphones in the US today, it provides the perfect environment for a user friendly app to find wineries and wine trails across the country.

America's Wine Trails, LLC is a young company filled with a passion and dedication to produce a quality app that will become a useful tool for users to seek out new adventures while discovering great wine and wineries throughout our nation.

Teaming up with WineAmerica and Wines & Vines provided the resources and experience to put together the most comprehensive listing of wineries and wine trails available today. Using a sophisticated search matrix, the app allows the user to find wineries with several options, including by "type of

Varietal" used to make it's wines. Other popular features to the app are; "Find A Winery Near Me" and "My Wine Journal". The journal allows the user to log their favorite wines and wines they have tasted in tasting rooms for future reference.

Note to Wineries: Wineries are encouraged to become members of America's Wine Trails which provides them an expanded description about their winery helping generate a stronger interest from future customers.  Be sure to check out our wine trail video tours.  This is a great way for wineries to reach out to future customers on a personal level with an invitation from the owner to visit with a message about the winery and its wines.  

Why FDA's New Registration Requirement is a Victory for America's Wineries

By Cary Greene

Since FDA’s biennial registration requirement went live on October 22, we’ve been hearing from concerned members asking us whether registration is the first step toward an FDA takeover of wine regulation.  The quick answer is no.  In fact, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the new law that created the biennial registration requirement, goes a long way toward preventing such a takeover.

As we reported last July, the FSMA contains a first of its kind exemption that excludes alcohol beverages from the vast majority of the law’s new food production requirements.  The law effectively instructs FDA to keep its hands off of wine regulation.

Federal laws governing wine production were designed to keep tainted products out of the market.  If there is a safety problem with a wine, TTB has legal tools to get it off the market.  The FSMA was written to give FDA powers that TTB already has.  Last year, we argued that including alcohol in the FSMA would undermine a regulatory system with strong safety checks built into it.  Giving FDA new power over alcohol would create confusion and business disruption.  Congress ultimately agreed with us.  The first of its kind exemption is the proof.

The FSMA is a milestone for wineries.  It’s the first time federal law governing food and beverage production specifically exempts alcohol beverages.  For more than a century, the overlap between federal food and alcohol laws has created confusion.  Finally, confusion is giving way to some clarity.

The biennial registration requirement is a modest burden compared to what could have been.  There was a real chance wineries could have faced conflicting FDA and TTB safety standards.  The exemption prevents this conflict, and creates a powerful and positive precedent that we can turn to in the future.

TTB and FDA will always need to work out their jurisdictional differences.  When these differences pop up, WineAmerica will need to ensure that America’s wineries gets heard.  At the same time, the FSMA has put us on stronger footing, making it clearer that Congress wants wine regulation in the hands of alcohol beverage regulators, not food and health regulators.

When you register your winery this fall and winter, remember that WineAmerica’s efforts have restricted, not expanded, FDA’s power over your business.