News

Far-reaching food safety rules final

The Food Safety Modernization Act, the first significant update of the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety authority in 70 years, is now final and first two rules are in place.

September 11, 2015

New food safety rules aimed at reducing food-borne illness and providing federal food safety officials greater enforcement powers are finally on the books five years after Congress enacted legislation to overhaul food safety oversight.

The Food Safety Modernization Act is the first major refresh in 70 years for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the first two of seven rules focus on risk reduction measures for food processing and the need to keep written records, according tothe New York Times.

"It's a big step forward," Sandra Eskin, director of food safety at the Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, told the Times.

About 48 million Americans become sick each year from food-borne diseases and 3,000 die, according to federal data. The new laws and regulations are aimed at reducing both those statistics. Just this week came news of a salmonella outbreak that sickened 341 citizens in 30 states. Earlier this year Blue Bell Creameries, an ice cream producer with plants in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama, had to recall all its products after 10 people became ill with listeria from eating them. hree of those people died.

The first tworules are related to the processing of foods like peanut butter and ice cream and mandate food manufacturers establish written food safety plans that detail the manufacturing process and identify any potential risks and steps being taken to minimize those risks

Michael R. Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, told the Timesthe act's overall mandate is to "transform the whole food safety system," and called the initial final rules a "significant accomplishment."

Taylor noted some big players in the food industry have already begun implementing new systems and processes during the past five years and the new rules want to acknowledge that activity as well as not create unnecessary costs and burden to the industry.

"We don’t want to issue regulations that force change for change’s sake if they don’t make a real difference in food safety," he told theTimes. "Getting high rates of compliance is really the crucial issue."

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, a trade group representing food and beverage producers, praised the FDA "for the deliberative and inclusive approach it took in developing these regulations."

With the new regulations FDA inspectors now have power to review written food safety data records, which is a big change. Before, plants were not required to hand over records to inspectors.

Before the law, FDA officials inspected plants only about once every 10 years, according to the Times. The law boosts potential inspections to least once every five years for high-risk plants and, starting early next year, to once every three years. Additionally, the FDA will have the authority to close a facility when plants are inadequate.