New Food Safety Law: Effectiveness on the Ground

Abstract

The demand for safety in the US food supply from production to consumption necessitates a scientific, risk-based strategy for the management of microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards in food. The key to successful management is an increase in systematic collaboration and communication and in enforceable procedures with all domestic and international stakeholders. The enactment of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) aims to prevent or reduce large-scale food-borne illness outbreaks through stricter facility registration and records standards, mandatory prevention-based controls, increased facility inspections in the United States and internationally, mandatory recall authority, import controls, and increased consumer communication. The bill provisions are expected to cost $1.4 billion over the next four years. Effective implementation of the FSMA's 50 rules, reports, studies, and guidance documents in addition to an increased inspection burden requires further funding appropriations. Additional full-time inspectors and unprecedented foreign compliance is necessary for the full and effective implementation of the FSMA.