It’s compliance time. The law we have been talking about since January 4, 2011 is going live this month. The FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is the most sweeping reform of food safety laws in more than 70 years.

Given the magnitude of the legislation, it is easy to be overwhelmed by what the law means and when mandatory compliance begins. In this post, we’ll look into the compliance dates in more detail, including the recently announced date changes for produce packing houses.

COMPLIANCE BY INDUSTRY

Compliance dates vary by business type so the first thing you need to determine is your FDA-defined business type. If your business has fewer than 500 employees, then you are a small business and have more time to comply with FSMA. If your business holds produce – but does not alter produce – then you are a produce packing facility (careful now, there are many “packing” definitions so it’s best to double check with the FDA on this one). Produce packing facilities now have until January 26, 2018 to comply with the Preventative Controls and Current Good Manufacturing Practices rules.

There are dozens of business types and each one will be affected by FSMA a little bit differently. For instance, most restaurants do not register with the FDA and are thus exempt from the Preventive Controls rule. However, a restaurant could import specialty food items, and those items might fall under the Foreign Supplier Verification Program rule. In short, it’s important to know the classification of your business before determining your compliance dates.

COMPLIANCE DEADLINES

The FDA recently extended deadlines for a variety of businesses, with produce packing houses being the largest sector affected (I admit, I do not know the ins and outs of the cotton gin industry). The chart below summarizes the key FSMA compliance deadlines; the dates listed in orange are the new deadlines announced by the FDA on August 23, 2016.

As a reminder, all rules require documentation and reporting. To read about how RizePoint can help with your FSMA compliance, visit https://rizepoint.com/solutions/fsma/

*FDA Definitions

• Small business: fewer than 500 full-time equivalent employees
• Very small business: (averaging less than $1 million per year (adjusted for inflation) in both annual sales of human food plus the market value of human food manufactured, processed, packed, or held without sale)
• Packing houses: facilities that only pack and/or hold raw agricultural commodities that are produce and/or nut hulls and shells
• Food contact substances: A food contact substance is any substance intended for use as a component of materials used in manufacturing, packing, packaging, transporting, or holding food if the substance is not intended to have any technical effect on the food.