Biennial registration renewal for food facilities began October 22, 2012 and must be completed by December 31.
About 48 million people (1 in 6 Americans) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne diseases, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) enables FDA to better protect public health by strengthening the food safety system. It recognizes that preventive control standards improve food safety only to the extent that producers and processors comply with them.
FSMA is the most sweeping reform of FDA’s food safety authority in more than 70 years. The act amended section 415 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act [21 U.S.C. § 350d], which requires domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for human or animal consumption in the U.S. to register with FDA.
The act also gives the FDA new and enhanced mandates and authorities to protect consumers and promote public health. The FDA’s guidance regarding registration requirements for food facilities is available at HERE.
