As the Food and Drug Administration closed the comment period on the Food Safety Modernization Act last Friday, a number of farm and agriculture groups submitted comments.

The House Organic Caucus said the requirements in the produce regulations for the use of biological soil amendments like manure and compost conflict with longstanding practices used in sustainable and certified organic production by requiring excessively long intervals between the application of amendments like manure and compost made with animal materials, and harvest of produce.

The letter urged FDA to align its standards with and not exceed the current application intervals established in the National Organic Program regulations.

Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Kay Hagan, D-N.C., wrote that they are concerned about the proposed rules to make sure that the regulations fulfill the law’s requirements for a flexible, scale- and supply-chain appropriate approach. The letter also raises concerns about the proposed requirements for biological soil amendments and agricultural water.

A bipartisan coalition of senators urged FDA to address issues in the proposed rules and release a second set of proposed rules for public comment before finalizing the regulations.

Seventy-five members of Congress co-signed the letter, noting that as proposed the rules “would result in a multitude of unintended consequences that would be severely detrimental to national, regional and local agriculture.”