FDA Says that Imports, Controls & Inspection Are Its Food Safety Act Priorities
In an April 6, 2011 speech, Michael Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods, provided an update on the Food and Drug Administration’s implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Among other things, FDA has prioritized some of the requirements it must implement, established six implementation teams, and created a new webpage dedicated to the FSMA.
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FDA Must Prioritize Act’s Requirements as Cannot Meet All Deadlines
According to Taylor, it is clear that FDA cannot meet all of the deadlines in the statute. Therefore, prioritization is an important part of FDA’s implementation strategy. FDA will be focusing first on those with the greatest public health benefit, such as preventive controls, inspection and compliance, and the import provisions.
Importer “Toolkit” Needed to Achieve Goal of Accountability
Even with these priorities, some of the deadlines are difficult. For example, establishing importer accountability is an FDA priority, but it must implement a new multifaceted import toolkit in order to fully achieve the goal of that provision.
Have Established 6 Teams to Implement 50 Regulations/Guidance Docs
With about 50 regulations, guidance documents, and reports and studies needed to implement the FSMA, FDA has decided to use a matrix management system that combines FDA staff from across the regulatory, policy and scientific areas into teams. This takes production out of the usual organizational structure and allows problems to be raised early and resolved quickly.
The six implementation teams are:
- Imports
- Inspection and compliance
- Prevention standards
- Federal/state integration
- Fees, and
- Reports and studies
A detailed organizational chart of these teams is available here.
FSMA Webpage Has Q&As, Implementation Info, Link to Recall Database, Etc.
FDA also recently unveiled a new FSMA web page that includes videos from some of the team leaders, coverage of public meetings for those who missed them, numerous questions and answers on FSMA, and a chart of its implementation teams and working groups. It also has a link to a new search engine for recalls that was required by FSMA by April 4. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/06/11 news, 11040651, for BP summary of FDA launching its recall search engine.)
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 03/31/11 news, 11033124, for BP summary of FDA seeking input from importers on major FSMA provisions such as the 2012 Supplier Verification System.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 01/04/11 news, 11010426, for a comprehensive BP summary of the FSMA, including the import provisions.)