Tag: US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
US: Ensuring the safety of food contact materials: GMPs and beyond
George Misko / Food Safety Magazine: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in January 2018 that it was exercising enforcement discretion with respect to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) requirements for importers of food contact substances (FCSs).
The news was met with a sigh of relief by the industry. The reasons for FDA’s decision centered on the vastly different hazard profiles and risks presented between FCSs and traditional food.
Read the full article at the Food Safety Magazine website
Tag: US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
US: LGMA prepares for new federal food safety regulations
Western Farm Press:Â The Leafy Greens Marketing Agreements in Arizona and California are working on new and updated standardized protocols ahead of Food Safety Modernization Act deadline.
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US: Can the FSMA improve safety of frozen berry production?
FPSC: Can the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) provide a framework to improve practices and boost exports for Chilean raspberry producers?
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US: Finalised US sanitary rule requires more scrutiny from food shippers
Journal of Commerce / Lara L. Sowinski: On April 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule establishing requirements for shippers, loaders, carriers by motor vehicle and rail, and receivers engaged in the transportation of food, including animal food, to use sanitary transportation practices to ensure the safety of the food they transport. The final rule is part of the FDA’s larger effort to focus on…
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US: FDA issues final food defense regulation
NZ Foreign Affairs: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today finalized a new food safety rule under the landmark, bipartisan FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that will help to prevent wide-scale public health harm by requiring companies in the United States and abroad to take steps to prevent intentional adulteration of the food supply. While such acts are unlikely to occur, the new rule advances mitigation strategies to further protect the food supply.
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FDA seeks new process to check imports
Food destined for the U.S. would be inspected abroad and importers would be held more accountable for ensuring its safety, under new rules proposed by the Food and Drug Administration.
The US government is seeking to outsource work to companies that already have food-sourcing operations overseas. Under the rules proposed in late July, food importers would need to ensure that their foreign suppliers comply with FDA safety rules or that local regulations meet U.S. requirements. The measures also outline accreditation procedures for third-party auditors who would inspect food suppliers.
The FDA portrays the changes as a more effective method of targeting the sources of contaminated foods rather than merely responding after people get sick.
“We will continue to check food at our borders,” Michael Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, said in a statement on the agency’s website.
“However, rather than relying almost entirely on FDA’s investigators at the ports to detect and respond to food safety problems, importers would – for the first time – be held accountable for verifying, in a manner transparent to FDA, that the food they import is safe.”
At the same time, Americans continue to perceive domestically sourced foods as safer than imports, says Marianne Rowden, president and chief executive of the American Association of Exporters & Importers, a trade group that counts several large importers such as Target and Mondelez International as members. (That perception gap remains, Rowden notes, even after several illness outbreaks tied to U.S.-grown produce.)
What’s less clear, according to Rowden, is how smaller players without the infrastructure and supply-chain expertise of major food importers will comply with the law. She predicts “critiques around the edges of some technical aspects” but no major industry backlash against the regulations.
“The food companies are very conscious about their brands,” she says. “We look at this as brand protection, rather than just new regulation.”
To read the full article by Justin Bachman, click here.
To find out more about the Food Safety Modernisation Act (FSMA) and how it affects US importers, click here.