The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced two updates for Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules: the finalization of a draft guidance for sprout operations under the Produce Safety Rule and additions to the Food Traceability Final Rule (also known as FSMA 204) FAQ to include information on inspections and FDA’s Product Tracing System. 

To address the trend of food manufacturers intentionally adding sesame to food products that did not originally contain the allergen in an attempt to circumvent allergen cross-contact requirements, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated its draft guidance for industry on hazards analysis and preventive controls with a new chapter on avoiding allergen cross-contact and proper labeling.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published updates to The Seafood List—FDA’s Guide to Determine Acceptable Seafood Names: Guidance for Industry.

Based on the results of a recent Clostridium perfringens Market Basket Study, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has concluded that the guidance currently being used for the cooling of large-mass, non-intact ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products is adequate and does not merit revision.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) has released an updated Guideline for Controlling Salmonella in Swine Slaughter and Pork Processing Establishments.

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is seeking stakeholder input on official advice for the proper use of precautionary allergen labels (PALs), which suggests that food businesses specify which of the 14 major allergens to which a PAL refers.

Six nations have assessed their performances in minimizing and containing foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The work was done as part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO’s) ACT project, which aims to support the global implementation of Codex Alimentarius texts on AMR.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final guidance for the Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals (FSVP), which is a regulation under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

On November 10, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the National Security Memorandum-16 (NSM-16), which aims to strengthen the security and resilience of the U.S. food supply and agricultural systems. NSM-16 focuses on threats such as climate change, supply chain disruption, cyberattacks, worker safety and workplace development, and other topics.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is encouraging countries around the world to adopt e-notification systems to bolster food safety, and has released a publication to support such efforts, titled, Technical Guidance for the Implementation of E-Notification Systems for Food Control.