The Food and Drug Administration is extending to Dec. 31, 2022, the deadline for domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for human or animal consumption in the U.S. to obtain and submit a unique facility identifier with their registration submissions. The requirement to include a UFI began during the most recent biennial registration renewal period, which ended Dec. 31, 2020, and applies to both new facilities registering for the first time and those submitting a registration renewal.
At this time, the FDA recognizes the DUNS number as an acceptable UFI for food facility registration. However, because a DUNS number has remained difficult for some to obtain, the FDA is allowing registrants until the end of the next registration cycle to submit a DUNS number as part of the UFI requirement. During this time the FDA intends to continue to allow registrants to enter “PENDING” in the UFI field of their registration if they have not obtained a DUNS number. The FDA also does not intend to cancel any registrations for facilities with UFIs that cannot be verified at this time.
For more information on this and other FDA issues, please contact Domenic Veneziano at (202) 734-3939.
This article was originally published in the Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report on April 7, 2022.