The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has finally released its final rules after five years since the approval of Food Safety Modernization Act by President Barack Obama.
The act, which was signed into law in 2011, is the "most sweeping reform" on laws on food safety since the 1970s as it shifts policies from contamination response to prevention. A huge part of the act is the creation of the final rules that are intended for growers and importers.
According to FDA fact sheet, key requirements for growers would cover soil, agricultural water, sprouts, domesticated and wild animals, and health and hygiene of the workers. Specific guidelines include:
- Sick employees should notify their supervisors if they are sick of a disease that can possibly contaminate the food and food surface.
- Farm workers should be provided with adequate education and training on issues related to food handling such as maintenance and importance of proper hygiene.
- Sprouts must be protected from any pathogen through thorough testing of spent irrigation water and facilities used for packing, harvesting, and growing.
- Untreated biological soil such as raw manure, which is often used as a fertilizer, should not come in contact with the covered produce.
Meanwhile, under the Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP), importers are mandated to perform risk-based activities to ensure that the produce delivered to the United States are grown, harvested, packed, and delivered in a manner that meets US standards and regulations. For example, they must conduct hazard analysis that can test for presence of biological, chemical, and physical contaminants that can cause injury. The analysis should also take into consideration the possibility of these hazards occurring due to lack of certain controls and the extent of its damage should it happen.
The importer is also responsible for conducting due diligence on its suppliers through on-site audits on the supplier's facility each year and review of the supplier's record on food safety.