Saturday 19 May 2012

FDAUpdate

FDA New FSMA Rules Coming “Soon”

Food Court reported in December the annoucement from FDA officals in Atlanta that new FSMA rules would be annouced on the anniversary of the legislation, Janurary 4th. The anniversary has come and gone with no new rules.

Food Navigator is reporting this morning the FDA will release new rules on the Foreign Supplier Verification (FSV) Program “soon.” FSMA set a January 4th deadline for the release of a rule and guidance documents on the FSV program (click here to learn more). A FDA spokesman told Food Navigator that “the high risk foods have not been defined yet. The process for certification of food is yet to be defined as well.”

Under FSMA  importers must verify the safety of the food offered for import using the new FSV Program. The FSV Program doesn’t apply to firms that import products from foreign suppliers subject to low-acid canned food regulations, seafood or juice HACCP. Under this plan, every subject importer must establish a program through which it verifies that its foreign supplier complies with HARPC or Standards for Produce Safety, and also verifies that that the food is not adulterated and misbranded because it fails to disclose the presence of major food allergens. Importers must maintain records for two years that substantiate compliance with this requirement. Importers that fail to comply with this verification program violate FDCA and are prohibited from importing food into the United States.

Until the release of the new rules, the FSV program remains lacking vital detail. Stay tuned in January for new rules under FSMA.

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