The FDA has released several draft guidances that, when finalized, will help domestic and foreign food facilities meet the requirements of the preventive foodborne illness control rules that became final in September 2015.
The rules require hazard prevention practices in human and animal food processing, packing and storage facilities. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) created the framework that holds manufacturers accountable for having a food safety plan, implementing it, verifying that it is working and taking corrective action when it isn’t.
Compliance dates are fast approaching for large food facilities. The human food facilities must meet preventive controls and Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) requirements, and the animal food facilities must meet the requirements, by Sept. 19. (The preventive controls rules have staggered compliance dates; smaller facilities have a year or more additional time to comply.)
One of the draft guidance documents covers ways to comply with the preventive control requirements of the human food rule. These chapters cover basic information about establishing preventive controls in a human food facility. Two other draft guidances when finalized will help domestic and foreign facilities comply with key requirements in the Preventive Controls for Animal Food rule, which covers all animal food, including animal feed and pet food. One of those documents provides direction on ways to comply with the rule’s CGMP requirements, which are baseline food safety and sanitation standards for animal food facilities. Another draft guidance when finalized will help domestic and foreign food facilities whose by-products of human food production are used as animal food. Such by-products include grain products and vegetable pulp. They also include foods like potato chips, baked goods and pasta that are safe to eat but considered the wrong size, shape, color or texture.
According to Susan Mayne, Ph.D., director of the FDA Center For Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, “These draft guidances, and the others that we’re working on for the FSMA rules, will be further refined based on input we receive from the public. The comments we received on the proposed FSMA rules were important in helping us shape the final rules so we look forward to working with stakeholders in the same way on these documents.”
