The Food Safety Modernization Act

On January 4, 2011, the Food Safety Modernization Act was signed into law. The new law establishes guidelines and regulations to insure a higher level of food safety in the United States. As with most laws, the regulations governing them are many. Some of the regulations are still under advisement with the FDA and have yet to be refined and defined.

The FDA recently held a series of public meetings for the purpose of soliciting comments on the proposed rules. Comments were heard from the general public (requesting strong rules with few or no exemptions), from trade associations (looking for specifics to the final rules), from small businesses concerned about the added cost burden of regulatory compliance, and from large industry leaders concerned about how the regulations would be governed for imported food and ingredients.

The final rulings are to be completed by May 16, 2013. If you wish to have your concerns brought to the FDA’s attention prior to the ruling, feel free to contact them. The true beauty of living in the United States is that an individual can freely add their voice to government regulators without fear of reprisal, and it might make a difference in the end result.

The author, Marge Bonura, is the Director of Sales & Marketing for New England Machinery, Inc. (NEM). NEM is a leading packaging machinery manufacturer of bottle unscramblers, cappers, orienters, retorquers, lidders, pluggers, pump sorter/placers, scoop feeders, hopper elevators and much more. The company has been in business since 1974 selling to the food, beverage, pharmaceutical, personal care, chemical, household products, automotive and other industries. For more information on NEM, visit their website at www.neminc.com.