FDA rules raise bar on food transport safety

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finalized a new safety rule to help prevent the contamination of both human and animal foods during transport.    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finalized a new safety rule to help prevent the contamination of both human and animal foods during transport.
   The rule will require those involved in transporting human and animal food by truck or railcar to follow best practices for sanitary transportation, such as properly refrigerating food, adequately cleaning conveyances between loads and properly protecting food during transportation.
   The rule also applies to shippers, loaders, carriers and receivers engaged in the transport of imported foods that are then distributed throughout the United States, FDA said.
   FDA’s action is part of a larger effort to prevent food safety problems in the food supply chain, and the rule implements the 2005 Sanitary Food Transportation Act, as well as the requirement in section 111 of FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
   An estimated 48 million people, or one in six Americans, get sick each year from foodborne diseases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 128,000 people are hospitalized and 3,000 die each year. Several high-profile outbreaks related to foods from spinach to peanut products in the past several years prompted the law and tighter regulatory standards.
   The FSMA food transportation safety rule was proposed in February 2014 and garnered more than 200 comments from the transportation and food industries, government regulators, international companies, consumer advocates, and tribal organizations, among others. FDA said the rule “builds on the transportation industry’s best practices for cleaning, inspecting, maintaining, loading and unloading and operating vehicles and transportation equipment.”
   FDA acknowledged, however, that implementation of the new food safety transportation rule will require “partnership, education and training.”
   “We recognize the importance of education and training in achieving widespread compliance, and we are committed to working with both industry and our government partners to ensure effective implementation of all of the new food safety rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act,” Michael R. Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, said in a statement.
   The agency said companies will be required to comply with the new regulation one year after its publication in the Federal Register, with smaller businesses having two years to comply.
   FDA has so far finalized six of the seven major rules that implement FSMA. The final rule on Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food builds on the preventive controls rules for both human and animal food, the Produce Safety rule, Foreign Supplier Verification program rule and the Accreditation of Third-Party Certification rule, all of which FDA finalized last year.
   The seventh rule, which focuses on mitigation strategies to protect food against intentional adulteration, is expected to be finalized later this year, the agency said.