The Food Safety Modernization Actand the FDA Facility Registration Program

摘要

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) represents the most sweeping update to food safety regulation since the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938. This legislation enhances the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) ability to require certain specific safety standards for growers and facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food products. In Florida, this includes citrus growers, packers, processors, repacking and distribution operations, and anyone else who falls under FDA jurisdiction.The act also gives the FDA authority to issue recalls if a food product is found to be substandard or contaminated with a pathogen. This legislation arose from concern that an inadvertent or purposeful (bioterrorism) contaminant in the food supply chaincould result in significant harm to many people or animals. The FSMA requirement for facility registration is not a new program, but a continuation of one started as part of the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, which required registration of both domestic and foreign producers of foodstuffs consumed in America.