34 produce items have been identified by the FDA as having an exemption from the Produce Safety Rule because they are considered "rarely consumed raw". Farms producing ONLY these commodities are not covered by the Produce Safety Rule.
Asparagus, black beans, great Northern beans, kidney beans, lima beans, navy beans, pinto beets, garden beets (roots and tops), sugar beets, cashews, sour cherries, chickpeas, cocoa beans, coffee beans, collards, corn - sweet, cranberries, dates, dill (seeds and weeds), eggplants, figs, ginger, hazelnuts, horseradish, lentils, okra, peanuts, pecans, peppermint, potatoes, pumpkins, winter squash, sweet potatoes, and water chestnuts.
Note: Taro, breadfruit, turmeric, and macadamia nuts, while commonly cooked in local cuisine and mildly poisonous (or causing digestion problems) when eaten raw, have either historically or culturally been eaten raw or, through selective breeding or wild cultivars, have varieties that can be eaten raw somewhere in the world. For these reasons, taro, breadfruit, turmeric, and macadamia nuts are considered covered crops and are not considered "rarely consumed raw".
Produce does not include food grains meaning the small, hard fruits or seeds of arable crops, or the crops bearing these fruits or seeds, that are primarily grown and processed for use as meal, flour, baked goods, cereals and oils rather than for direct consumption as small, hard fruits or seeds (including cereal grains, pseudo cereals, oilseeds and other plants used in the same fashion). Examples of food grains include barley, dent- or flint-corn, sorghum, oats, rice, rye, wheat, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, and oilseeds (e.g., cotton seed, flaxseed, rapeseed, soybean, and sunflower seed)”. This list of grains is not exhaustive.