2015 FDA Regulations will Place new Pressure on Shippers

In an effort to “up the game” on food safety, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is adopting a new set of rules that have created an additional layer of complexity for companies handling food and food packaging materials.

Signed into law in 2011, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) shifts the focus from “responding” to food contamination issues to “preventing” them from occurring in the first place.

The effort is part of a long-term push for convergence of regulations and preventive controls concerning human food and produce, animal food and food packaging.

These rules present a new set of challenges for shippers dealing with food and produce, and have put additional pressures on companies that must now comply with an entirely new set of regulations.

Patrick O’Connor, a partner with Kent & O’Connor, a Washington, D.C.based lobbying firm specializing in health and transportation, says shippers that are handling food should be keeping a very close eye on the FDA’s decisions and rules regarding FSMA. “FSMA impacts preventive controls (how you store and handle food products), the foreign supplier verification program, sanitary food transport, and other key functions within the food distribution supply chain,” O’Connor says.

“There are a host of requirements in FSMA that will greatly affect food shippers and how they manage their operations.”