ODA and New Food Safety Law, Jan. 21

It will take a partnership of industry, state government, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to put together and implement a fair and effective food safety system that emphasizes prevention over reaction, according to Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Katy Coba. However, Coba is confident such a system will ultimately prevail as FDA develops rules connected to the Food Safety Modernization Act.  Currently proposed FSMA rules deal with produce safety, preventive controls for human food, imports, third-party verification, and preventive control for animal food and feed.  Coba says the current system is archaic and not meeting today’s needs. As Congress debated FSMA, regulators and the food industry supported an improved system that moved from reacting to food illness outbreaks to preventing them. When President Obama signed the law in 2011, there wasn’t much concern being heard. But in the three years since, there has been a great deal of anxiousness about its implementation.  Coba summed up her comments by saying that the FSMA rules are challenging enough, but implementing them is a whole new regulatory challenge. With a court ordered mandate of FSMA rule adoption by June 30, 2015, ODA’s director says there is a lot of work to do in the next year and a half. Coba concluded that it’s the collaborative relationship with industry sectors like the food processors that will help lead to success.