The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) will hold an informational webinar on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, from 1:00–5:00 P.M. ET on the recently released Food Traceability Final Rule, issued under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The final rule is designed to facilitate faster identification and rapid removal of potentially contaminated food from the market, resulting in fewer foodborne illnesses.

During the webinar, FDA will provide an overview of the final rule, including the foods and entities covered by the rule, explain the exemptions from the rule, and discuss the recordkeeping requirements of the rule. FDA will answer pre-submitted questions and take questions during the webinar. A full agenda for the webinar, including topics to be discussed, has also been released.

Foods subject to the final rule requirements appear on the Food Traceability List (FTL), and include fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, shell eggs, nut butters, as well as certain fresh fruits, certain fresh vegetables, ready-to-eat deli salads, soft cheeses, and certain seafood products.

Persons who manufacture, process, pack, or hold foods on the FTL must maintain records including Key Data Elements (KDEs) related to Critical Tracking Events (CTEs) in the supply chain for the food. Covered entities—including farms, manufacturers, distributors, retail food establishments, and restaurants—will be required to provide traceability information to FDA within 24 hours of an official request, or within another reasonable timeframe to which FDA agrees. The Food Traceability final rule is a key component of the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint and implements Section 204(d) of FSMA.

Register for the webinar here. Questions may be submitted in advance when registering, or through an email sent to FSMA204Traceability@fda.hhs.gov. The webinar will be recorded and posted to the meeting page.

Additionally, the FDA webinar follows an upcoming Food Safety Magazine webinar with FDA on the contents of the Food Traceability Final Rule, tech-enabled traceability, and the New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint. The webinar is the second installment in an ongoing, four-part series on FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint, of which the Food Traceability Final Rule is also a key component. The webinar will take place November 29, 2022 at 2:00 P.M. ET and will feature Frank Yiannas, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response; Captain Kari Irvin, M.S., Deputy Director of the Office of Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) within FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN); Katherine Vierk, M.P.H., Director of FDA’s Division of Public Health Informatics and Analytics; Angela Fernandez, Vice President of Community Engagement at GS1 US; and Ed Treacy of the Produce Traceability Initiative Core Team and the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA). Register here.

Update, December 1, 2022: Additions have been made to include FDA's recently released agenda for the webinar.