Good news for farmers and brewers -- the great circle of grain is safe

Farmer John and Brewer Bill can breathe a sighs of relief as the FDA announced plans to reevaluate newly proposed regulations to the age-old symbiotic relationship between brewers and farmers.

Beer is of course made with copious amounts of grain -- mostly malted barley -- and most of this grain ends up as waste at the end of the brewing process. Once brewers have extracted all the sugars and enzymes from the grain that they need to make the beer, they’re left with hundreds of pounds of wet, steaming “spent grain.”

For centuries this spent grain has been given -- or sold very cheaply -- to farmers to use for animal feed. It’s one of those free market systems that works without too much fuss. Farmers get lots of grub for their stock, and brewers get rid of a frighteningly large volume of heavy, often smelly waste.

Last month, things got tense though; the Food and Drug Administration proposed new rules, requirements and other sundry bureaucratic hoops as part of the Food Safety Modernization Act. The idea was since spent grain was being used as livestock feed, it should be carefully regulated to ensure the safety of America’s food supply.

The proposed requirements sounded onerous enough that many in the brewing industry believed that small brewers wouldn’t be able to comply, and all that spent grain would just end up in landfills.

The Brewers Assn. rallied their troops and released a statement challenging the FDA’s proposal, saying in part:

“Brewers’ grains have been used as cattle feed for centuries, and the practice is generally considered safe. Absent evidence that breweries’ spent grains as currently handled cause any hazards to animals or humans, the proposed rules create new and onerous burdens for brewers and for farmers who may no longer receive spent grain and will have to purchase additional feed. We ask the FDA to conduct a risk assessment of the use of spent brewers’ grain by farmers prior to imposing expensive new regulations and controls.”

The FDA received more than 2,000 comments from farmers and brewers in opposition to the new regulations, and a U.S. senator even got involved. On Thursday the government agency said it heard the cries and will revise the original plans in an updated proposal due this summer. In a statement to beer industry new website Brewbound.com, the FDA said:

“We anticipated some of these issues when we requested comment on the proposed rule and are already reviewing the extensive input received from brewers and others. We recognize this is an area that should be addressed and will reach out to those concerned. We are working to develop regulations that are responsive to the concerns expressed, practical for businesses, and that also help ensure that food for animals is safe and will not cause injury to animals or humans.”

Sounds like the system is working the way it should, and that Farmer John and Brewer BIll can breathe easy -- at least until the revised proposal is released this summer.

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