(Mondaq – Andrew Hudson, Hunt & Hunt)
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) has issued notices to all foreign food facilities registered with the FDA advising that it plans to conduct an inspection of those facilities between 1 October 2010 and 30 September 2011.
The FDA inspection scheme affects facilities that manufacture, process, pack, hold or ship food to the United States.
The FDA has issued notices only to foreign food facilities that are registered with the FDA. Under the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act (2002), any foreign food facility that manufactures, processes, packs, holds or ships food to the United States is required to be registered with the FDA. If your facility engages in any of these activities and you are not yet registered, you are advised to visit http://www.fda.gov to register or contact us for further advice or assistance.
The FDA has reported that the inspections are designed to:
“identify potential food safety problems before products arrive in the United States, to determine compliance status of firms to FDA’s requirements, and food safety standards, to help the agency make admissibility decisions when food products are offered for importation into the United States, and to help ensure that food products under FDA’s jurisdiction meet U.S. requirements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.”
Foreign food facilities that do not comply with an inspection notice risk having their products refused for admission into the United States and may have their registrations terminated.
