To help importers, manufacturers, and processors meet supply chain requirements under Food Safety Modernization Act rules, the Food and Drug Administration has announced an improved tool allowing them to more easily find compliance and enforcement information related to specific firms.
The Foreign Supplier Verification Program rule requires importers to perform risk-based activities to verify that their suppliers are meeting applicable U.S. food safety standards. One such activity is an evaluation of a supplier’s performance and the risk associated with the food, a process that includes evaluating a supplier’s compliance with FDA regulations such as whether the supplier is subject to an FDA warning letter, import alert, or other FDA compliance action related to food safety.
Similarly, the preventive controls rules for human and animal food require manufacturers and processors to perform supplier approval if the ingredient supplied contains a hazard requiring a supply chain applied control. Supplier approval includes consideration of the supplier’s compliance with food safety laws and regulations.
The FDA’s web page designed to assist with these evaluation processes previously required users to search multiple databases. The FDA has now improved this page so that information regarding warning letters, import refusals, import alerts, and other firm-specific information can be searched at the same time.
This article was originally published in the Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg Trade Report on May 18, 2018