The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed several new safety rules to help prevent foodborne illness, one of which could affect food producers both in the U.S. and abroad.
The proposed changes are available for public comment for the next 120 days, and include a requirement that makers of food to be sold in the United States — including foreign producers of food sold here — to “develop a formal plan for preventing their food products from causing foodborne illness.” The new rule also requires food producers to have plans for correcting problems as they come up. If the FDA implements this new rule, and publishes it in the Federal Register, it would take effect in one year’s time, and smaller producers may be given more time to comply.
“The FDA knows that food safety, from farm to fork, requires partnership with industry, consumers, local, state and tribal governments, and our international trading partners,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “Our proposed rules reflect the input we have received from these stakeholders and we look forward to working with the public as they review the proposed rules.”
The FDA drafted the proposed changes after holding a series of public hearings and meetings across 14 states, in order to make sure domestic producers will be able to work with the new rules.
“We know one-size-fits-all rules won’t work,” said Michael R. Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine. “We’ve worked to develop proposed regulations that can be both effective and practical across today’s diverse food system.”
The FDA indicated future proposed rule changes could set higher standards for importers and foreign countries producing food for U.S. consumers. According to the FDA, one in six Americans suffer from a foodborne illness every year, and of those, nearly 130,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die from their illness.
