Is Arranging the Transportation of Food an Integral Part of your Business?
Due to pressure from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the U.S. Food, and Drug Administration (FDA) is preparing to publish their notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), which will establish U.S. regulations on the sanitary transportation of food along our supply-chain. The regulation will be targeted for persons engaged in food transport, including persons who transport food (and store it during transport) as well as manufacturers or other persons who arrange for the transportation of food.
Because of the magnitude of this issue and the potential impacts on our industry, TIA will be establishing a Transportation Food Advisory Committee to facilitate in the development of policy positions on this important issue.
By way of background, in 2005, Congress passed the 2005 Sanitary Food Transportation Act (SFTA), which in part created section 416 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Section 416 of the act requires FDA to promulgate regulations setting forth sanitary transportation practices to be followed by shippers, carriers by motor vehicle or rail vehicle, receivers, and others engaged in food transport to ensure that food is not transported under conditions that may render the food contaminated.
In 2011, President Obama signed into law Public Law 111-353, the “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.” Section 111 of the FSMA promulgates to the Agency to establish regulation to “require shippers, carriers by motor vehicle or rail vehicle, receivers, and other persons engaged in the transportation of food to use sanitary transportation practices prescribed by the Secretary to ensure that food is not transported under conditions that may render the food adulterated.”
