Food industry faces up to bioterrorism regs
food plants to register with the Food and Drug Administration and
food importers to give the agency advance notice before shipments
arrive at ports or border crossings.
The regulations are part of an action plan devised by FDA to fulfil last year's Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Prevention and Response Act.
The new law will attempt to address the potential threat of bioterrorism to the domestic and imported food supply. Nearly 20 per cent of all imports into the US are food and food products but earlier this week only a quarter of the estimated number of food facilities required to register had done so. About half of these were foreign firms.
However Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association, told NutraIngredients.com that FDA is unlikely to refuse shipments over the next few days.
"I think FDA will enforce it at the border during the next 90 days. It will be easy to do it this way," said McGuffin. The FDA has said the rules will be 'enforced with discretion' through the prior notice system for four months, while it educates stakeholders on the law.
However the new regulations are expected to delay imports. The FDA expects to get about 25,000 advance notifications of shipments each day, and with only 650 FDA inspectors staffing 90 of the more than 300 ports of entry into the country, the agency will be hard-pressed to keep up with the influx. US Customs and Border Protection is also on board to help coordinate the work, but teething problems are expected.
Shipments not accompanied by the proper paperwork could be held up at borders. And suppliers of more unusual ingredients may have difficulties registering.
For more information on the rules, see the FDA website.
