In-Depth:
The 2010 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
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FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. (2010). Pub. L. 111-353, 124 Stat. 3885, codified as amended at 21 U.S.C. § 2201.
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Congress passed in 2010 and President Obama signed into law, in January 2011, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), that aims to “reduce risk of illness attributed to food from facilities subject to preventive controls rule under the act.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s plans to implement FSMA, beginning mid-2016, include a strong dependency on state agencies in an ‘Integrated Food Safety System.'
In passing FSMA, referred to as “the Greatest Food Safety Reform in our Nation’s History” by the Executive Director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials, Congress intended to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the FDA’s focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. Congress delegated authority solely to the FDA revising and enforcing the inspection of foreign and domestic food (non-meat and poultry), driving industry compliance with preventive controls for foodborne illness, food fraud, and food defense, while including specific language directing the federal agency to collaborate with several federal, state, and other food safety partnership agencies in a relationship described as an “integrated food safety system."
Building an ‘Integrated Food Safety System’ Will Take All of Us
By Darin Detwiler
Food Safety News. May 29, 2015. Available online at: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2015/05/building-an-integrated-food-safety-system-will-take-all-of-us/#.VWhBMPlViko
Under Taylor’s leadership, FDA’s implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) envisions an “integrated food safety system” to achieve the ultimate goal of reducing the “risk of illness attributed to food from facilities subject to preventive controls rule under the act.” FSMA is intended to ensure that American consumers are safe by shifting FDA’s focus from responding to problems to preventing them.
5 Ways New FDA Rules Will Make Your Foods Safer
FDA Consumer Update
“5 Ways New FDA Rules Will Make Your Foods Safer.” (2015, September 10). FDA Consumer Update. Available online at: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm459072.htm
Consumers like you will be more confident that their food is safe.
“Up until now, everything has been reactive,” says Darin Detwiler, senior policy coordinator for the advocacy group STOP Foodborne Illness. ”This is the most sweeping food safety legislation passed within the last 70 years.”
Limbach, J. (2015, September 15). “FDA: New Rules will Make your Foods Safer: The rules cover the route from farm to table.” Consumer News. Available online at: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/fda-new-rules-will-make-your-foods-safer-091515.html