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Abstract
Excerpts: Fruits and vegetables are a vital component of a healthy diet and it’s important that these key sources of nutrition are safe to eat. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law in 2011 and is implemented by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FSMA protects public health by taking a proactive approach to strengthening the Nation’s food safety system. It allows the FDA to focus on reducing and preventing food safety problems at each point of the supply chain, rather than responding after they happen. The FSMA has seven rules, including science-based Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption, which is widely known as the Produce Safety Rule (PSR). The rule went into effect in January 2016 and aims to reduce foodborne illnesses associated with consuming contaminated produce which, according to research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), accounted for nearly half of all foodborne illnesses from 1998 to 2008.