Food Shippers in the U.S. Face New Rules
Move is part of an effort by the FDA to reduce food-borne diseases
ENLARGE
The Food and Drug Administration has introduced new rules for transporting food that requires shippers ensure vehicles are properly cleaned and refrigerated. Photo: Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
The move is part of a sweeping effort to reduce food-borne diseases that the Food and Drug Administration said sickens one in six Americans every year, though the agency said major problems created during transportation were “infrequent”.
The new requirements apply to food shipped for people and animals and lay out a set of best practices governing the cleaning of road and rail vehicles between shipments, adequate refrigeration and other protective measures during transport.
The broad-reaching rule “will have a significant effect on how companies in the food industry do business,” said Jeff Barach, a food safety consultant to the Association of Packaging and Processing Technologies, a trade group that represents manufacturers of food packaging and processing equipment.
Mr. Barach said under the rule, shippers will now have to take measures like precooling trucks before loading them with food, and maintaining records showing adequate temperature controls throughout transport.
The requirement is the sixth of seven major rules that make up the Food Safety Modernization Act, an overhaul of food-safety oversight that Congress passed in 2010, and its completion brings the government nearer to implementation of the law.
The rules follow a series of deadly food-borne illness outbreaks in the past decade linked to tainted fruit, spinach, peanut butter and other products, and are all due to be completed this year.
“Consumers deserve a safe food supply and this final rule will help to ensure that all those involved in the farm-to-fork continuum are doing their part to ensure that the food products that arrive in our grocery stores are safe to eat,” said Michael R. Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.
The transportation rule applies to food shipped within the U.S. by road or rail, as well as imports that are then moved within the U.S.
Large businesses will be required to comply with the rule one year after its publication in the Federal Register, while smaller companies have two years to comply.
Write to Jesse Newman at jesse.newman@wsj.com
