The Obama administration issued two rules, applying to food and feed, that require companies to analyze weak spots in their operations and implement plans to prevent contamination of their products. The so-called preventive-control rules are the first of seven that the FDA is writing under the 2010 Food Safety Modernization Act.
“Today’s announcement will ensure that food companies are taking action and working with the FDA to prevent hazards to customers on the front end, rather than waiting to act until an outbreak has occurred,” the agency said in a statement. An estimated 48 million people contract food-borne illnesses annually and 3,000 of them die.
Under the preventive-control rules, food and feed companies “will be accountable for monitoring their facilities and identifying any potential hazards in their products and prevent those hazards,” said the FDA. A similar system was adopted years ago for meat processors. “A separate rule on fresh produce is not expected to become final until later this year,” said the New York Times. The agency said it would have the seven rules in place in 2016, and that “they will work together to systematically strengthen the food safety system and better protect public health.”
“Under the rules, food makers will be required to keep written records, effectively a sort of safety activity log for the production center, and FDA inspectors will have the right to review them,” said the Times. A consumer group said plants were not required to hand over records to inspectors in the past. The FDA will inspect plants more frequently and it will have the authority to close a plant if its food-safety plans are inadequate.
FSMA is “bigger than anything since Teddy Roosevelt cleaned up the meatpacking industry,” but Congress repeatedly refused to provide adequate funding for the overhaul and the administration is far behind schedule in implementing the law, said a comprehensive Politico story in July.
The food industry, through its trade group Grocery Manufacturers Association, said it will work with Congress and the White House “to ensure that Congress appropriates the necessary funding for FDA to fully implement FSMA.”
The National Grain and Feed Association said the FDA had “included some necessary distinctions” between manufacturing and handling of food for humans and feed intended for pets and livestock. “Without appropriate distinctions, the feed industry would be faced with regulatory obligations that are not needed to ensure the safety of animal feed and pet foods.”
On an initial reading, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said the FDA appeared to respond to its concern that farms would unfairly be saddled with rules more appropriate for processing plants. The rules “provide more clarity to farmers attempting to discern whether this rule applies to them. Of course, it’s a large and complex rule and our concerns extend far beyond the farm definition, so we will be giving it a much deeper read.”