What measures must I take if my agricultural water does not meet the requirements of § 112.41 or § 112.44?
21 C.F.R. § 112.45
in effectEffective: 2024-07-01(a) If you have determined or have reason to believe that your agricultural water is not safe or of adequate sanitary quality for its intended use as required under § 112.41 and/or if your agricultural water does not meet the microbial quality criterion for the specified purposes as required under § 112.44(a), you must immediately discontinue that use(s), and before you may use the water source and/or distribution system again for the intended use(s), you must either:
(1) Re-inspect the entire affected agricultural water system to the extent it is under your control, identify any conditions that are reasonably likely to introduce known or reasonably foreseeable hazards into or onto covered produce or food contact surfaces, make necessary changes, and take adequate measures to determine if your changes were effective and, as applicable, adequately ensure that your agricultural water meets the microbial quality criterion in § 112.44(a); or
(2) Treat the water in accordance with the requirements of § 112.43.
(b) If you have determined that your agricultural water does not meet the microbial quality criteria (or any alternative microbial quality criteria, if applicable) required under § 112.44(b), as soon as practicable and no later than the following year, you must discontinue that use, unless you either:
(1) Apply a time interval(s) (in days) and/or a (calculated) log reduction by:
(i) Applying a time interval between last irrigation and harvest using either:
(A) A microbial die-off rate of 0.5 log per day to achieve a (calculated) log reduction of your geometric mean (GM) and statistical threshold value (STV) to meet the microbial quality criteria in § 112.44(b) (or any alternative microbial criteria, if applicable), but no greater than a maximum time interval of 4 consecutive days; or
(B) An alternative microbial die-off rate and any accompanying maximum time interval, in accordance with § 112.49; and/or
(ii) Applying a time interval between harvest and end of storage using an appropriate microbial die-off rate between harvest and end of storage, and/or applying a (calculated) log reduction using appropriate microbial removal rates during activities such as commercial washing, to meet the microbial quality criteria in § 112.44(b) (or any alternative microbial criteria, if applicable), and any accompanying maximum time interval or log reduction, provided you have adequate supporting scientific data and information;
(2) Re-inspect the entire affected agricultural water system to the extent it is under your control, identify any conditions that are reasonably likely to introduce known or reasonably foreseeable hazards into or onto covered produce or food contact surfaces, make necessary changes, and take adequate measures to determine if your changes were effective and adequately ensure that your agricultural water meets the microbial quality criteria in § 112.44(b) (or any alternative microbial criteria, if applicable); or
(3) Treat the water in accordance with the requirements of § 112.43.
Source: eCFRURL: https://www.ecfr.gov/api/versioner/v1/full/2024-07-01/title-21.xmlFetched: 7/26/2026