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The European Commission recently updated its regulation on maximum levels for ochratoxin A, a type of mycotoxin, in foods.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has proposed a regulatory framework that would change food safety in the poultry industry, including new flock testing requirements, enhancing process control and verification, and implementing enforceable final product standards.

At the Global Conference on Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) stressed the need for a “One Health” approach to addressing AMR in food, introduced the AMR Codex Texts project, and highlighted FAO and Codex Alimentarius resources for mitigating foodborne AMR. 

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has explained the science behind its draft opinion on the public health risk of nitrosamines in food, which was recently opened to public consultation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will host a series of four webinars on the Infant Formula Transition Plan for Exercise of Enforcement Discretion.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched its Retail Program Standards Reference System, a searchable database of current Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards interpretations.

The Brand Reputation through Compliance Global Standards (BRCGS) Food Safety Issue 9 contains new requirements that certified manufacturers will be expected to comply with by February 1, 2023.

As part of the Closer to Zero Action Plan, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct an independent study to assess young children’s exposure to mercury from consuming seafood.

We have been monitoring the relationships between food processors and regulators for a number of years. Our attention to this topic started with the implementation of FSMA to watch the evolution of the FDA's enforcement posture, as well as inspection and sampling procedures related to the new requirements. Now that the FDA has resumed its regular in-person inspections, we asked processors: (1) whether they have had an inspection so far in 2022 and, if so, did FDA collect any samples; (2) now that processors are seeing inspectors again, do they still agree that FDA "educates before it regulates"; and (3) with their experiences from recent and previous inspections, what do processors wish that regulators understood better? This column presents answers from more than 300 food processors in every category on these and related regulatory questions. 

During foodborne illness outbreak investigations, public health and regulatory authorities collect three types of data to determine a common food consumed by ill people: epidemiologic, traceback, and laboratory. State and local partners work with FDA to conduct traceback investigations and examine the food supply chain to determine the origin of the foods identified by the epidemiologic investigations. This article looks at the benefits of using incident command system (ICS) principles during emergency response coordination activities for foodborne illness outbreaks, with input from members of the FDA's CORE Network.