On Jan. 4, 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took the first step in its history to regulate produce farmers. The agency issued a 547-page proposed rule that spends a lot of time reducing everything humanity has learned about plants since agriculture emerged in the Fertile Crescent 10,000 years ago into U.S. governmental jargon.

It is interesting reading if you like that sort of thing. There is an entire section devoted to the hazards of sprouts and another to the taxonomic and agricultural definition of mushrooms. FDA takes no position on glass or metal fragments in soil, but the “hazards unique to cilantro” warrant mention. We are introduced to an excellent new phrase: “pre-consumer vegetative waste.”

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