Today, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its final rule governing the sanitary transportation of food as part of its continued rollout of new food safety regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). This is the FDA’s sixth new FSMA regulation in the past seven months. (See our previous alerts here and here.) Like previous FSMA regulations, the transportation rule is geared toward implementing risk-based controls to prevent food contamination.
Are you covered?
The sanitary transportation rule applies to all shippers, receivers, loaders and carriers that transport food in the U.S. The rule defines transport as “any movement of food in commerce by motor vehicle or rail vehicle.” The rule does not apply to shipment of food by air or sea, or transportation of food by farms. Waivers will be available for retail food establishments (e.g. restaurants, supermarkets and home grocery delivery operations) and businesses transporting milk and milk products inspected under the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS) Grade “A” Milk Safety program.
What is required?
The rule provides requirements for:
Compliance Date: Most covered businesses must comply by April 2017. Delayed compliance is available for smaller (less than 500 employees) businesses and certain motor carriers.
The rule will be formally published in the Federal Register on April 6, 2016, but an advance copy is available here.
We are advising clients on all of the new FSMA requirements and scheduling private educational seminars and Q&A sessions. If you have questions about the new FSMA regulations or other food regulatory questions, please contact Chris Predko at 616.752.2190 or cpredko@wnj.com.
