FSMA 204 compliance webinar now available online
A FSMA 204 compliance webinar hosted by the Produce Distributors Association (PDA) is now online. The Sept. 24 webinar featured expert tips and advice for meeting new Food Safety Modernization Act guidelines.
Alan Siger, PDA president, led the webinar, which also included Jennifer McEntire, founder of Food Safety Strategy, and Dave Donat, principal at DRD Produce Consulting.
The session provided guidance for meeting Food Traceability Final Rule requirements by the January 2026 deadline set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While FDA isn’t expected to start conducting routine enforcement until 2027, both McEntire and Donat urged distributors to be ready by the starting date.
“This is a big deal. A lot of customers are starting to pay attention to it,” Donat said in a news release. “They’re not requiring it per se, but they’re coming out and asking distributors, ‘Where are you with FSMA’? It’s the law, and your customers are bugging you to do it.’ What’s being asked here is doable. So, if you go into it with that mentality, I think you’ll succeed.”
FSMA 204(d) expands the requirements on traceability data-keeping for those who “manufacture, process, pack, or hold foods” on the Food Traceability List (FTL). The goal is more streamlined processes to identify and react to potential contaminants. Distributors must ensure they prepare and trace Key Data Elements (KDE) and Critical Tracking Events (CTE).
“The FDA understands that despite giving the industry a little over three years since the rule was finalized, it is still going to take more time for the food community to come together and implement it,” McEntire said. “[But] if FDA requests, each company would need to provide the requested key data elements for the critical tracking events in an electronic, sortable spreadsheet within about 24 hours.”
McEntire and Donat talked in-depth about specific situations that require extra attention and took questions from a full webroom of attendees.
The FSMA Myths vs. Facts webinar, now online, is one of a multitude or resources available from PDA, which provides support to its members on critical topics that impact the industry.
View the webinar by completing a form at this link.
