FDA Revises Ruling on Spent Grain

November 22, 2014 By Heather Vandenengel

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has relaxed packaging and disposal requirements of spent grains, allowing smaller brewers to continue donating or selling spent grain to farmers for animal feed.

The previously proposed rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act required brewers to dry and package their spent grain, a byproduct of the brewing process, to avoid contamination. After an outcry from the brewing and agricultural communities about the unnecessary and costly regulations, the FDA announced that the rule will now only apply to brewers with annual sales of $2.5 million or more.