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One gallon of beer yields on average about a pound of spent grain, the malted barley husks leftover after mashing and the sweet liquid is drained. It's a food grade product and for years, smaller craft brewers have donated or sold on the cheap their spent grain to farmers to feed cows and other livestock. Now The Oregonian reports that the FDA, charged with tightening the country's food safety network, has proposed a rule that strikes financial fear into the hearts of brewers and distillers nationwide which could cost the industry millions and increase the price of beer and spirits. The proposal would classify companies that distribute spent grain to farms as animal feed manufacturers, possibly forcing them to dry and package the material before distribution. The equipment and set up to do that would cost about $13 million per facility, says Scott Mennen, vice president of brewery operations at Widmer. "That would be cost prohibitive," Mennen said. "Most brewers would have to put this material in a landfill."
The FDA rule would also require brewers and distillers to keep extensive records to allow for traceability in the event of a problem, and to adopt new safety procedures, for example by storing and shipping spent grain in closed sanitized containers. "Beer prices would go up for everybody to cover the cost of the equipment and installation," says James Emmerson, executive brewmaster of Full Sail Brewing Co. The proposal has sparked an outpouring from opponents, with hundreds of comments pouring into the FDA. "This is the kind of stuff that makes government look bad," says Rep. Peter DeFazio. "It would mark a huge setback adding tons of waste to our landfills."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 21 2014, @12:12PM
The FDA does nothing about the holistic / homeopathic "medicines" being sold in every supermarket.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 21 2014, @12:31PM
> The FDA does nothing about the holistic / homeopathic "medicines" being sold in every supermarket.
You want them to regulate plain water? [scoop.co.nz]
(Score: 1) by PlasticCogLiquid on Monday April 21 2014, @01:46PM
Try some Melatonin and tell me it's just water while you sleep.
(Score: 2) by tynin on Monday April 21 2014, @04:34PM
At least the FDA does give guidance for this one. They classified it as a dietary supplement, but appears to match the benefit it gives shift workers. Unfortunately the FDA is pretty silent on many homeopathic products making medical claims that appear to be filling more and more shelves at my local grocery store. I've done my best to avoid shopping at Whole Foods because of it, but they really do have the best pieces of meat in my area.
(Score: 1) by NickM on Monday April 21 2014, @07:06PM
When did a chemical related to serotonin,with a pretty specific usage, became considered as homeopathic or holistic
I a master of typographic, grammatical and miscellaneous errors !
(Score: 2) by zim on Tuesday April 22 2014, @04:18AM
This is the giant InBev (Anheuser-Busch ) working to take care of all those microbreweries.
What.. You thought you could cut into the market share of a multi-billion a year company without a fight just because it's beer and beer means happy funtime? Oh no. Beer means money. And InBev has the most money in this ballgame.
InBev's brands can absorb the extra cost and not even notice it. They pay more for toiletpaper in it's factories than this is going to cost them.
Your tiny little craft beer brewer however.. This is going to break alot of them.