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August 31, 2009

Reportable Food Registry to Launch Next Week; IDFA to Offer Guidance

The Food and Drug Administration will launch its Reportable Food Registry on September 8, the day after Labor Day. Included as a provision in the FDA Amendments Act of 2007, the registry will impose new reporting responsibilities on food industry manufacturers and suppliers, including IDFA members. It is intended to improve FDA's ability to ensure the safety of the domestic food supply.

Food facilities will be required to report certain foods identified by Congress as food products for which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, will cause serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals. In the case of dairy products, reportable foods most likely would be those found to contain pathogens or unlabeled allergens that are in the stream of commerce, although the finer points of what is reportable are being debated.

Also on September 8, FDA will post to its Web site a step-by-step Food Registry Instruction Manual and contact information for a new Help Desk. IDFA expects FDA to post revised and significantly expanded Industry Guidance before or on the registry's start date.

Starting September 8, members may access the Food Registry from FDA's home page, www.fda.gov, or directly at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ReportableFoodRegistry/. This link will not be live until then.

IDFA Vice Presidents Clay Detlefsen, Cary Frye and Allen Sayler will hold a member conference call on September 8 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time to answer questions about the Food Registry and its requirements. Members may login below to access call-in details.

For additional details about the registry, see the June 22 News Update story, "FDA Announces September Effective Date for Reportable Food Registry."

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