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Issue Number: Council II 031

Title

Coordination of the two current FDA food program standards

Issue you would like the Conference to consider

Harmonization of the 1) FDA Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards and the 2) FDA Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards.

Public Health Significance

The goal in setting program standards is to provide a "standard" where all regulatory jurisdictions throughout the nation have the opportunity to enroll in a program that follows a structure, promotes uniformity, and provides best practice principles in food safety.

Currently, the FDA has created two sets of program standards: one for retail food programs and one for manufactured foods. While, each set of standards are designed for a specific segment of the food chain and there are differences integral to each process; there are areas that can be coordinated. There are jurisdictions that regulate both retail and manufacturing within the same inspection framework. For those jurisdictions, complying with and maintaining two distinct and separate sets of standards is proving to be labor intensive and not cost effective. There are components in each set of standards that can benefit the other and there are components in each set of standards that can be captured in the same format.

Although the Conference for Food Protection has placed emphasis in the retail arena, the Conference recognizes the need to promote food safety and food safety programs throughout the food chain. There already is recognition and inclusion within the CFP governing documents of food processing and manufacturing and the impact manufacturing has on retail food.

The Constitution and By-laws of the Conference for Food Protection state the following:

"The objective of the Conference placed greater emphasis on food safety at the point of ultimate sale to consumers through food services, retail food stores and food vending, and continued to identify and address problems in production, processing, packaging, distribution, sale and service of food;...."

Article I Objective

Section 1. The objective of the Conference shall be to promote food safety and consumer protection by:

Subsection 1. Identifying and addressing problems in the production, processing, packaging, distribution, sale and service of foods;

Article IV Composition of Organizational Components and Eligibility Requirements for Service in Official Capacities

Six (6) members from the food industry with at least one (1) each representing food processing, food service, retail food stores and food vending;

Recommended Solution: The Conference recommends...

that a work group be created within the Program Standards Committee to:

  1. Work with the FDA and the Association of Food and Drug Officials Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards Workgroup to study the differences and likenesses of both the Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards and the Manufactured Food Regulatory Program Standards,
  2. identify areas where harmonization can be achieved,
  3. make recommendations based on their findings, and
  4. report back to the 2012 Biennial Meeting.

Attachments

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