All About Beer Magazine - Volume 35, Issue 6
November 22, 2014 By
spent grain
Pigs at Blue Heron Farm in Millersburg, IN, chow down on spent grain from Iechyd Da Brewing Co. Photo courtesy Blue Heron Farm

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.