FDA has issued five guidance documents to help importers and food producers meet key food safety provisions mandated by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

The guidance documents include:

·         A draft guidance on Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) rule
·         A Small Entity Compliance Guide on the FSVP rule
·         A draft guidance on the term “Same Level of Public Health Protection” used in both the FSVP and Produce Safety regulations
·         Chapter 15 of the draft Preventive Controls for Human Food guidance regarding Supply-Chain requirements
·         Enforcement Discretion guidance regarding the application of FSVP to certain importers of grain raw agricultural commodities (RACs)

These represent the latest steps FDA is taking to help food importers and producers understand and effectively implement the FSMA regulations. More information about this announcement is available in the constituent update, as well as, the webpages for the FSVP rule, the Preventive Controls for Human Food rule and the Produce Safety Rule.