NAMA Actively Evaluating FDA's New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint
The North American Millers' Association (NAMA) 2021 strategic plan is to focus on three main areas for the flour milling industry, which include: food safety, nutrition, and the supply chain.
In an effort to provide an in-depth update on the regulatory efforts of the association, NAMA staff addressed these areas in coordination Tucker Scharfenberg, MILLING JOURNAL Managing Editor.
Food Safety
On the regulatory front, NAMA has been active in evaluating the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint (the Blueprint), which was released by FDA in July as a roadmap for FDA food safety priorities over the next 10 years.
Since July, FDA has announced a pilot program to evaluate alignment of private third-party food safety audit standards with the food safety requirements in two regulations under the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) – the Preventive Controls for Human Food (PC Human Food) and the Produce Safety rules.
FDA also has held a “First 100 Day” review of FDA efforts related to the Blueprint, where it discussed further stakeholder engagement and various webinars/roundtables that will be held in 2021.
To read the full NAMA 2021 Strategic Plan article, click here.
The NAMA Technical Committee Subcommittee on Food Safety has been reviewing the four core elements of the Blueprint, with an ultimate goal of identifying areas of interest to the milling industry and engaging FDA on those issues.
Additionally, the NAMA Technical Committee has been reviewing a FDA proposed rule published in September that would establish additional traceability recordkeeping requirements for certain foods.
The intent of the proposal would be to standardize the data elements and information that firms must establish and maintain, as well as the information they would need to share with supply chain partners to facilitate rapid and accurate traceability.
While milled grains currently are not subject to the proposed rule, NAMA is reviewing the proposal for aspects that may not be practical for the milling industry.
NAMA also will be looking to engage FDA on the complexity of the grain supply chain and how future traceability requirements could impact the industry.
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