United Fresh supports FDA’s new timeline for FSMA rules

United Fresh Produce Association applauds the agreement reached among FDA, the Center for Food Safety and the Center for Environmental Health to create a new timeline for the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules. FDA and the two advocacy groups reached a settlement in a case appealing the strict, court-imposed deadlines for FDA’s publication of final versions of the rules.

“We are encouraged that FDA has been allowed to push back the June 2015 deadline for these rules,” said United’s David Gombas, senior vice president of food safety and technology. “Each rule represents major changes to the industry and FDA in how the safety of human and animal food is controlled and regulated, both domestically and imported. It’s critical that FDA have the time to ensure that the final rules are right.”

The agreement requires FDA to issue the following regulations under new deadlines: preventive controls for human and animal food (Aug. 30, 2015); imported food and foreign suppliers (Oct. 31, 2015); produce safety (Oct. 31, 2015); food transportation (March 31, 2016); and intentional adulteration of food (May 31, 2016).The deadlines for the sanitary transportation and intentional food adulteration rules will also be pushed back to 2016.