FDA Releases Food Strategic Plan; Key Initiatives Include Qualified Importer Program, Etc.
The Food and Drug Administration’s Foods and Veterinary Medicine Program issued the final version its 2012-2016 Strategic Plan, which identifies key goals and objectives to advance food safety, nutrition, and animal health. The Plan includes 7 program goals, including the establishment of science-based preventative control standards, high rates of compliance both domestically and internationally, improved detection of and response to foodborne outbreaks, etc.
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(The draft version of this plan was posted in September 2011. The FDA said it carefully considered the various internal and public comments that were received. The FDA says it continues to welcome comments on the work of the FVM program and will not hesitate to modify the specific elements of the Plan as circumstances warrant.)
Trade-Related Initiatives Include Foreign Supplier Verification, Tracing Systems, Qualified Importer Program, Etc.
The FDA said the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 (FSMA) directs it to build a new food safety system based on comprehensive prevention, an enhanced focus on risk-based resource allocation, and partnership across the public and private sectors. According to the FDA, this Strategic Plan reflects the FDA’s current thinking about the activities that will be key to building this food safety system. Trade-related highlights of the plan include the following:
- Prioritize and target import safety activities, including foreign inspections and border interventions, based on information about identified risk factors
- Engage industry, when necessary, to obtain data that can inform risk-based decision making by, for example, fostering state-of-the-art tracing systems.
- Enforce importer accountability through implementation of the foreign supplier verification program (FSVP) requirement
- Implement an accredited third-party certification program that ensures the rigor, objectivity, and credibility of certifications from third-party audits
- Implement the voluntary qualified importer program (VQIP)
- Leverage international partners and increase work on joint regulatory programs with foreign counterparts to improve assurance of food and feed safety
- Establish a process to determine appropriate foreign inspection targets based on risk and resource availability
- Improve communication with food and feed importers to provide rapid notification of test results
- Update the nutrition facts label in light of the most current information about nutrition and health, including potentially giving greater prominence to calorie declarations
- Implement standards for animal feed ingredients
- Publish a final rule defining and permitting use of the term “gluten free” in the labeling of foods
(See ITT's Online Archives 11100426 for summary of FSMA , including the tracing system, the qualified importer program, third-party auditor certification, the foreign supplier verification program, etc. See also 12022414 for summary of remarks by FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods Michael Taylor, including announcement that the FDA will publish the foreign supplier verification rule soon.)