Your business meets the definition of a Primary Production Farm. Activities that your farm can perform in addition to growing and harvesting crops and/or raising livestock, without having to comply with the PCR, include:
packing and holding food crops in their raw or natural state (referred to as raw agricultural commodities or RACs), including RACs grown on your farm and RACs supplied from other farms;
drying/dehydrating RACs to create a distinct product with no other processing (for example drying grapes to make raisins); and
artificially ripening RACs (for example tomatoes in controlled storage).
If your Primary Production Farm includes a packing house on the property, and the packing house only performs the activities identified in discussed above, there are no limits on the amount of RACs your packing house can pack, hold, handle, shell, dry, or ripen from other farms: Your business is still a Primary Production Farm even if other farms provide the majority of the products used in those activities, and you do not need to register with FDA as a food facility.
NOTE: Cutting/slicing/crushing RACs after the initial harvesting, packing, and holding activities listed above—e.g. cutting through the intact leaf, skin or flesh of a produce RAC, or crushing a grain RAC—and freezing RACs are processing activities, NOT harvesting, packing or holding. If your operation includes these cutting/crushing activities, select 001-A in the box below to learn more about whether the PCR may apply to those aspects of your business.
If you grow or handle produce on your farm, the FSMA Produce Safety Rule may apply to your farm. To help you figure out how the Produce Safety Rule affects your farm, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association has an interactive guide on the Produce Rule: www.carolinafarmstewards.org/interactive-fsma-produce-rule-flowchart.
If you conduct any value-added food processing, or pack or hold processed foods for humans, those activities may be covered by the FSMA Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule (PCR). To learn more about whether the PCR applies to your business, select 001-A in the box below.
If you are confident you don’t do anything that is covered by the PCR, select 001-F in the box below to receive a report on your answers to this guide.