USA - FDA Initiates Rulemaking on Sanitary Food Transportation Act

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) announced an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on implementing the Sanitary Food Transportation Act of 2005 (2005 SFTA).  The ANPRM is the first step in writing federal regulations that will govern sanitary practices by shippers, carriers by motor vehicle or rail vehicle, receivers, and others engaged in the transportation of food products for humans and animals.

The 2005 SFTA provides broad authority to FDA to regulate the transportation of human and animal food products to protect products from food-safety hazards during transport.  Today's ANPRM requests input on the issue from all interested parties including the food and transportation industries and consumer interest organizations.  After evaluating comments received in response to the ANPRM, FDA will propose specific regulations to implement the statute.   FDA will coordinate with the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Transportation in this rulemaking process.

The ANPRM also is part of FDA's focus on farm-to-table prevention of food safety hazards.  This focus on prevention is the primary recommendation by the President’s Food Safety Working Group in its report on food-safety issues to President Obama.

In addition to the ANPRM, FDA today issued Guidance to the Industry on the Sanitary Transportation of Food.  The purpose of the guidance is to provide interim recommendations to industry on keeping food safety during transport while the agency proceeds with developing regulatory requirements.