The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made two updates to its materials for stakeholders regarding the proposed rule, “Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods” (Food Traceability Proposed Rule). 

First, the agency has made clarifying edits to the Food Traceability List (FTL), which lists the foods for which the additional traceability recordkeeping requirements in the proposed rule would apply. The edits to certain commodity descriptions were made for clarity and do not reflect a change in which foods are on the FTL. For instance, the word “(fresh)” was added to certain fruit and vegetable commodities to clarify the scope of those commodities, and the description for “cheeses, other than hard cheeses” was revised to clarify which cheeses are part of this designation, and to include examples of such cheeses. All of the specific edits are described in a memo titled “Food Traceability List for ‘Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods’ Proposed Rule- Clarified Language.”

Second, the FDA has published an FAQ, addressing questions that the agency has received about the proposed rule (e.g. during the public meetings, through the FSMA Technical Assistance Network, and during other outreach engagements) to assist stakeholders who are considering providing feedback during the comment period, which has been extended until February 22, 2021. Comments can be submitted at regulations.gov, Docket ID: FDA-2014-N-0053. 

For More Information:

• Food Traceability Proposed Rule
• Food Traceability List
• Constituent Update: FDA Extends the Comment Period for the Food Traceability Proposed Rule and the Information Collection Provisions