Two Democrats and two Republicans offer bill to protect centuries-old practice


Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and three of her House colleagues have introduced a bill that would prevent federal regulators from imposing harsh new rules on a centuries old practice of brewers giving the spent grain from the brewing process to local farmers.

In October 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a rule that would subject breweries that sell or donate spent grains – a high-protein byproduct of the brewing process – to local farmers to onerous new requirements, driving up costs, and leaving these breweries with no choice but to dispose of spent grains in landfills.

The Protecting the Sustainable Use of Spent Grains Act, a bipartisan bill introduced today by Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Steve Womack (R-AR), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Cory Gardner (R-CO), prevents the FDA from interjecting itself into the long-standing relationship between breweries and farmers by regulating spent grain. The bill amends the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act to make it clear the law does not apply to brewers providing spent grain to farmers.

"Let's be clear," Pingree said. "This grain has already been used in a process safe enough to make a product for human consumption. It's silly to think it's going to be dangerous for cows. Feeding this grain to animals is a sustainable practice that has gone on for literally hundreds of years."

Pingree has been outspoken in her criticism of the proposed rule, and recently questioned the head of the FDA about it in a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee.