Clean Eating - Complying with the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act Rules on Sanitary Food Transportation

Clean Eating - Complying with the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act Rules on Sanitary Food Transportation

By GreggGarfinkel, Esq.

This article was originally written for Stone | Dean's At Issue Newsletter. You can find the original & full edition of At Issue Summer 2017 here.

George Bernard Shaw once said that “there is no sincerer love than the love of food.” Well, rules created by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently went into effect to ensure the food you love makes it to your table safe from contamination during transportation.

The FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rule on Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food is now final. This rule is one of seven foundational rules proposed since January 2013 to create a modern, risk-based framework for food safety. The stated purpose of this rule is to reduce illness outbreaks resulting from human and animal food contaminated during transportation.

The sanitary transportation rule estab­lishes requirements for:

• Vehicles and transportation equipment: The design and maintenance of vehicles and transportation equipment to ensure that it does not cause the food that it transports to become unsafe. For example, they must be suitable and adequately cleanable for their intended use and capable of maintaining temperatures necessary for the safe transport of food.
• Transportation operations: The measures taken during transportation to ensure food safety, such as adequate temperature controls, preventing contamination of ready-to-eat food from touching raw food, protection of food from contamination by non-food items in the same load or previous load, and protection of food from cross-contact.
• Training: Training of carrier personnel in sanitary transportation practices and documentation of the training. This training is required when the carrier and shipper agree that the carrier is responsible for sanitary conditions during transport.
• Records: Carriers must maintain records of written procedures, agreements and training. The required retention time for these records depends upon the type of record and when the covered activity occurred, but does not exceed 12 months.

The final rule applies to shippers, receivers, loaders and carriers who transport food in the United States by motor or rail vehicle, whether or not the food is offered for or enters interstate commerce. Notably, the rule expressly applies to property brokers whose involvement, for the most part, is limited to arranging for the shipping of foodstuffs, rather than physically transporting same.

The FSMA marks a change in focus by the FDA from responding to contamination to preventing it. While the legal ramifications of the rule are beyond the purview of this brief article, the rule will surely have a positive impact on improving the safety and purity of food up and down the chain of distribution.

Transportation-industry professionals looking to update company practices to comply with the latest FDA regulations can find information directly, such as an FSMA Factsheet, at: https://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/fsma/.

For further assistance or advice on specific legal issues, contact the author Gregg Garfinkel at ggarfinkel@stonedeanlaw.com. 

The Transportation Law attorneys at Stone | Dean have defended some of the nation’s largest trucking and logistics companies, helping them navigate litigation and regulations like FSMA. Find out more by visiting StoneDeanLaw.com/practice-areas/transportation-and-logistics