The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years, was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Sept. 17, 2015 published its final regulations mandated by FSMA to establish requirements for CGMPs, hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls, as well as supply-chain programs that apply to human food, animal feed and pet food.

FDA’s final regulations apply to domestic  and foreign facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold (store) animal feed and/or pet food, and ingredients used in such products. Generally, with some exceptions, that means the new requirements apply to facilities that are required to register with FDA under the agency’s existing facility registration regulations implemented as part of the Bioterrorism Act.

In November 2015, FDA released the agency’s final rules mandated by FSMA for produce safety, foreign supplier verification programs (FSVP), and accreditation of third-party certification bodies/auditors. FDA’s final rules for FSVP and accreditation of third-party certification cover a wide variety of entities involved with importing food, including importers of raw agricultural commodities (e.g., grain and oilseeds), animal feed and feed ingredients, and human food and food ingredients.

The NGFA has in-depth analyses of FDA’s FSMA rules, as well as ongoing education efforts.