FDA Issues Draft Guidance on Public Release of Confidential Retail Consignee Lists in Recalls
The Food and Drug Administration recently issued a draft guidance document outlining situations in which it will publicize the names of downstream retail consignees that may have received food subject to human and animal food recalls. FDA has the authority to disclose confidential commercial information if necessary to put a recall into force, it said. The agency intends to publicize retail consignee lists for food recalls when “(1) the food is not easily identified as being subject to a recall from its retail packaging (or lack thereof); and (2) the food is likely to be available for consumption (i.e., given its shelf-life or perishability, it may still be in a consumer’s possession),” it said in the document. Examples of these types of food include fruit and vegetables, deli cheese and nuts sold in bulk, FDA said.
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“In recent months, we’ve already begun taking actions that align with this approach,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. “For example, this summer the agency released detailed retail distribution information by state during a recall of pre-cut melon associated with an outbreak of Salmonella infections so consumers could better identify where the recalled food may have been purchased. The draft guidance released today, provides greater transparency on our intention to regularly use this approach in these and other scenarios,” he said.