FDA launches voluntary pilot program to evaluate third-party food safety standards, meeting another milestone in the New Era of Smarter Food Safety
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is launching a voluntary pilot program to evaluate alignment of private third-party food safety audit standards with the food safety requirements in two regulations under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)—the Preventive Controls for Human Food (PC Human Food) and the Produce Safety rules. This pilot program will help both FDA and industry better understand how to determine whether these standards align with FDA regulations, a goal that is consistent with the New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint. The Blueprint, published on July 13, 2020, explains that the Agency is looking to explore how reliable third-party audits can help ensure food safety, including the use of audit data in risk-prioritization for FDA regulatory activities.
Buyers and others in the food supply-chain often use third-party audits to assess the quality and safety of a product. For example, buyers, such as importers and receiving facilities, might stipulate an audit as part of a purchase agreement. In addition, three FSMA regulations—the PC Human Food, Preventive Controls for Animal Food (PC Animal Food) rule, and Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) rule—allow for third-party audits to be used as supplier verification activities.