Across the entire food industry, food safety and supply chain professionals are diving into the details of the Food Safety Modernization Act, the most sweeping food safety legislation to hit the industry in the last 70 years. Companies will take the next several months to get their FSMA plans set and continue getting ready for the pending compliance deadline. As you get FSMA ready, here are three key must-know facts to getting on the road to FSMA readiness.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published three more final rules as part of implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). These new rules affect international and domestic produce growers, address import safety and outline guidance for food companies importing from foreign suppliers as well as outline a plan for establishing a comprehensive and reliable program for third‐party audits and certification of foreign food facilities. Here's a breakdown of each new rule with just a couple of the highlights:
The Food Safety Moderinzation Act rules have updated the requirements surrounding when and what the FDA will require surrounding access to your food safety records and documentation. Here are three quick things to know about about required record keeping:
For the first time, the FDA has a legislative mandate to require comprehensive, prevention based controls across the food supply. The legislation transforms FDA’s approach to food safety from a system that far too often responds to outbreaks rather than prevents them.
While the food industry is shuffling to become FSMA-ready in order to comply with the landmark legislation, the final regulations are not yet set. The FDA is encouraging public comment on all open dockets related to FSMA.
