Yesterday, September 10, 2015, FDA released the final rules for Preventive Controls on human and animal foods. This regulation has been a long time in coming, and will drastically change the landscape of food regulations for both domestic and foreign food facilities.
There are three main areas of interest: (1) the main body of the rule, providing standards for Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for human and animal foods, (2) the update to current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) – for the first time since 1986, and (3) an official definition of “farm,” which will change the requirements for both food facility registration and production controls for included facilities.
However, the updates included in the rule are merely the beginning of a greater food safety initiative, which is expected to create changes in long-standing regulations and guidances for huge swathes of the food import and production industry, including those facilities covered under seafood and juice HACCP.
After a long week, FDA thoughtfully provided industry with some light reading for the upcoming weekend: 930 pages of entirely new regulations. Stay tuned for more in-depth analysis next week, to learn about how these changes may affect your company.
If you would like to see more information about HARPC and Preventive Control Rules watch our videos!
