In October of 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) introduced the requirement for all food facility registrations to include a UFI (Unique Facility Identifier). Currently, FDA has only approved Data Universal Numbering Systems (DUNS) numbers for use as UFIs for food facility registration. DUNS numbers are managed solely by the third-party firm Dun & Bradstreet, and are free to obtain. Because of the challenges many food facilities encountered in obtaining a DUNS number in 2020, FDA waived the requirement to include a DUNS number for the 2020 renewal period.
Between October 1 and December 31 of this year, all FDA-registered facilities, including food facilities, must renew their registrations. In March of 2021, FDA extended the deadline for food facility DUNS compliance to December 31, 2022. Many food facilities have registered for DUNS numbers in the interim, but for those who have not, obtaining a DUNS number should be a priority ahead of this upcoming renewal season. Although the deadline has been postponed in years prior, there is currently no indication that FDA is considering extending the grace period beyond December 31, 2022.
It is important to note that the FDA facility registration information must match the information associated with the DUNS number exactly. Some companies have encountered problems with including special characters, such as umlauts and accented vowels, in their DUNS information, as FDA’s registration platform does not currently recognize these characters.
We encourage you to ensure that the information in each database matches as closely as possible, down to spacing, punctuation , and abbreviations. Doing so will help prevent potential delays in registration renewal associated with FDA’s validation of the DUNS number. We recommend that you use renewal season as an opportunity to review your registration information and ensure that all information is current and accurate. If you encounter validation failure with the DUNS number in your food facility registration, we can help guide your next steps.
Our experienced team stands ready to assist with FDA facility registration. Contact us today for registration renewal, new facility registration, US agent services, and more; please reach out to the attorneys and consultants at FDAImports to discuss your specific concerns.
This blog is provided for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice and is not intended to form an attorney-client relationship. Please contact your regular FDAImports representative for additional information.
