By James Limbach
ConsumerAffairs.com
September 8, 2009
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a new way to head off potential cases of foodborne illness -- the Reportable Food Registry.
Food industry officials are now required to use the RFR to alert the FDA quickly through an electronic portal when they find their products might sicken or kill people or animals.
Facilities that manufacture, process or hold food for consumption in the United States now must tell the FDA within 24 hours if they find a reasonable probability that an article of food will cause severe health problems or death to a person or an animal.
The reporting requirement applies to all foods and animal feed regulated by the FDA, except infant formula and dietary supplements, which are covered by other regulatory requirements.
Some examples of reasons a food may be reportable include bacterial contamination, allergen mislabeling or elevated levels of certain chemical components.
The opening of the RFR electronic portal reflects a fundamental principle of the President's Food Safety Working Group that "preventing harm to consumers is our first priority."
"By fostering real-time submission to the FDA of information on food safety hazards, the registry enhances FDA's ability to act quickly to prevent foodborne illness," said Michael R. Taylor, senior advisor to FDA commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. "Working with the food industry, we can swiftly remove contaminated products from commerce and keep them out of consumers' hands."
The requirements apply to any person who has to submit registration information to the FDA for a food facility that manufactures, processes, packs, or holds food for human or animal consumption in the United States. These people are termed responsible parties.
A responsible party:
• Must investigate the cause of the adulteration if the adulteration of food may have originated with the responsible party
• Must submit initial information; followed by supplemental reports
• Must work with the FDA authorities to follow up as needed
• A responsible party is not required to report if it found the problem before the food was shipped, and corrected the problem or destroyed the food.
