Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) recently partnered with a bipartisan group of legislators to draft legislation that would pushback on proposed FDA regulations on reusing spent grains from the brewing process.
Under a rule proposed by the FDA in October 2013, breweries that sell spent grains, a high-protein byproduct of brewing beer, to local farmers would be subjected to new requirements.
The new regulations would lead to higher costs and force breweries to dispose of spent grains in landfills.
Reps. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Gardner are original sponsors of the Protecting the Sustainable Use of Spent Grains Act.
“The FDA’s proposed rule is a solution in search of a problem,” the legislators said. “The last thing breweries and farmers across the country need is the federal government interjecting itself into the environmentally sound, centuries-old practice of breweries selling or donating their spent grains to farmers for use as food for animals, especially when there is no indication that this practice poses any sort of risk to our food supply….”
The legislation would amend the Food Safety Modernization Act to ensure that facilities that distribute spent grains for use as food for animals are not subjected to additional regulations.
“The federal government should be praising this type of collaboration, not burdening it with onerous new regulatory requirements that drive up costs and discourage sustainable disposal practices,” the legislators said. “With this bill, commonsense prevails, and our breweries, farmers and environment will be better off because of it.”