The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in collaboration with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO), and state produce inspection programs, is announcing the establishment of new regulatory program standards for produce.

The Produce Regulatory Program Standards (PRPS) provide a uniform foundation across government produce regulators and are designed to advance an integrated food safety system that leverages the collaboration and resources among federal, state, local, and tribal agencies to protect public health.

Serving to advance produce safety, the PRPS provide a consistent framework for government agencies that have regulatory oversight and responsibility over their respective jurisdiction’s farms, produce commodities, and activities covered under FDA’s Produce Safety Rule.  

The PRPS are the latest regulatory program standards that have been developed as part of a standards framework comprising best practices related to prevention, intervention, and response activities. Other regulatory program standards exist for manufactured food, animal food, eggs, and retail food safety. The use of the PRPS may:

• Enhance capacities of produce regulatory programs
• Promote program consistency and workforce training, furthering an Integrated Food Safety System (IFSS)
• Assist programs in developing risk-based inspection and sampling protocols
• Provide a mechanism to build a quality management system to measure performance improvement and accountability.

FDA believes that by achieving full conformance with these standards, federal and state programs will be better equipped to reduce illness and outbreaks related to produce.