The Food Safety Modernization Act: Effects on the Brewing Industry

The Food Safety Modernization Act was a broadly impactful piece of legislation signed into law in 2011. This legislation is composed of seven core rules that together made sweeping changes to the regulations surrounding how foods are grown, harvested, and processed. These regulations affected many different industries, including the brewing industry and its supporting counterparts. Due to the expansive nature of the regulations, there have been issues with interpretations during their rollout and direct guidance from the FDA was not always immediately available. This meant that during initial years following passage of the legislation, non-government groups were left to gather information and disseminate answers to questions on maintaining compliance. A review of available literature and resources has found that even though there has now been clarification on how many of the provisions affect various industries directly from the FDA, resources on how to achieve compliance in specific areas are not always available and can sometimes be hidden behind a paid membership. Due to this, there exists a state where some resources may be unavailable to potential industry participants. There is value in providing free resources to potential participants, future research on sustainable practices with industry byproducts, and in identifying shortcomings in the legislative rollout for the benefit of future regulatory endeavors.