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FSMA partnership in animal feed safety
In the U.S., animal food is regulated by both federal and state agencies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the primary federal agency responsible for animal food regulation. FDA’s oversight of animal food is found in various federal laws and regulations. The most extensive change to the manner in which FDA regulates animal food was brought about by the passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which was signed into law on January 4, 2011. FSMA enables FDA to better protect public health by strengthening the food safety system. The main themes in FSMA are prevention, inspection and compliance, imports, and enhanced partnerships. FSMA requires a shift in focus to preventing food safety problems rather than relying primarily on reacting to problems after they occur. Under FSMA, FDA will require comprehensive, science-based preventive controls across the food supply including preventive controls for human and animal food and produce safety regulations. FSMA recognizes that preventive control standards improve food safety only to the extent that producers and processors comply with them. To ensure compliance, FSMA provides FDA with a mandatory inspection frequency and new enforcement authorities designed to achieve higher rates of compliance such as mandatory recall authority, access to food safety records, suspension of registration, and administrative detention. FSMA granted FDA unprecedented authority to ensure that imported products meet U.S. standards and are safe for U.S. consumers. For the first time, importers have an explicit responsibility to verify that their foreign suppliers have adequate preventive controls in place to ensure that the food they produce is safe. Lastly, FSMA recognizes that FDA cannot and should not be responsible for food safety oversight alone by recognizing the need for enhanced partnerships and collaboration with other government agencies. Food safety agencies need to work together in an integrated way to achieve our public health goals. One of the main FSMA provisions of interest to the animal food industry is the proposed rule for Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals. The proposed rule applies to all animal food, including pet food. The proposed rule would require all domestic and foreign facilities required to register under the FDCA to implement current Good Manufacturing Practices for the manufacture, processing, packing, and holding of animal food, to conduct a hazard analysis, and implement risk-based preventive controls.
Keywords: FSMA