Serving the Latest in Food Law and Policy
Late yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic the agency has temporarily postponed all domestic routine surveillance facility inspections.
This announcement is not limited to the food industry, but the impacts for the food industry are the focus of this memorandum. FDA is taking this action for…
As the novel coronavirus crisis continues to escalate, state and local governments have begun implementing increasingly aggressive measures, including restrictions on when and which businesses may operate, quarantines, curfews, and lockdowns. Some measures have been tailored to accommodate the continued operation of the food sector, while others are more general. These restrictions risk creating confusion…
As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has continued to escalate, both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have taken additional action to provide industry, the public, and inspectors with guidance concerning food safety and how to respond in the event that food industry personnel test positive for…
As you likely know, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are closely monitoring the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), a respiratory disease that has been declared a public health emergency. At this time there have been no reported concerns of COVID-19 transmission via food…
On October 21, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a public meeting to engage stakeholders on the agency’s initiative, “A New Era of Smarter Food Safety,” to build on the advances that have been and are being made in FDA’s implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).1 FDA will…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently published a list of the records that importers are required to develop and maintain under the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) regulation. [1] The thirteen-page document contains detailed checklists of the required records,, though not every record on the list will be applicable to every importer. These…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced the launch of an updated version of the Food Defense Plan Builder Version 2.0 (FDPB) to help companies meet the requirements of the final rule “Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration” (IA Rule) under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The FDPB is a…
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced it will hold a full-day public meeting on October 21, 2019, regarding “A New Era of Smarter Food Safety.” As explained in more detail in this memorandum, as part of FDA’s ongoing implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the agency is exploring new and…
On July 24, 2019, the Health Commission of the Chamber of Deputies approved the draft opinion that amends and adds various provisions to the General Health Law concerning overweight, obesity, and front labeling of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
The approved amendments to the General Health Law have, as its main purpose, the right to health…
FDA recently released a Draft Guidance for Industry entitled, “Reducing Microbial Food Safety Hazards in the Production of Seed for Sprouting” (“Draft Guidance”). The Draft Guidance addresses the growing, harvesting, conditioning, and holding of seed for sprouting.
The Draft Guidance notes that the FDA has reported 50 outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with sprouts in…
