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FDA releases foodborne illness safety standards for farms, food importers
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The FDA has finalized the guidelines of three major regulations intended to enforce safety standards for produce farms and foreign food facilities, according to a press release.
With today’s announcement, the FDA has now outlined five of the seven major rules that will enforce the 2011 bipartisan Food Safety Modernization Act. The first two regulations, released in September, required companies to implement modern preventive practices in food processing and storage facilities.
Michael R. Taylor
“The recent multistate outbreak of Salmonella in imported cucumbers that has killed four Americans, hospitalized 157 and sickened hundreds more, is exactly the kind of outbreak these rules can help prevent,” Michael R. Taylor, JD, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, said in the release. “The FDA is working with partners across the government and industry to prevent foodborne outbreaks. The rules will help better protect consumers from foodborne illness and strengthen their confidence that modern preventive practices are in place, no matter where in the world the food is produced.”
The three released regulations are referred to as the Produce Safety rule, the Foreign Supplier Verification Programs rule and the Accredited Third-Party Certification rule. The first institutes science-based standards for large- and small-scale produce farms, and includes requirements for water quality, employee health and hygiene, animals, equipment, buildings and biological soil amendments of animal origin such as compost or manure. The others were established to reduce contamination of international products, requiring importers to verify that suppliers meet U.S. domestic safety standards and outlining the program through which third-parties can become certified to conduct these food safety audits.
The final two major rules of the Food Safety Modernization Act are expected to be finalized in 2016, according to a previous FDA press statement.
Foodborne illnesses affect approximately 48 million people annually and are responsible for 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths each year, according to the CDC.