The Federal Drug Administration’s (FDA) mission to protect consumers from unsafe food follows different paths. The seven rules that have been finalized since the fall in 2015 to implement the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) will require food producers, importers, and transporters to take science- and risk-based actions to help prevent the contamination that leads to food-borne illness.

On July 14, 2016, the FDA finalized another rule to implement FSMA, one that updates the requirements for the registration of domestic and foreign food facilities that manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for consumption in the United States, whether for people or for animals. Under the final rule, additional information will be required that will ultimately support the FDA’s ability to respond quickly to food-related emergencies and that will also help the agency more efficiently use the limited resources it has for inspections. This rule is effective Sept. 12, 2016.

 …