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IDFA Offers Toolbox to Help Dairy Industry Comply Washington, DC, October 3, 2003 — The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) is offering four major tools in a fast-track program designed to help the dairy foods industry navigate the impending regulations under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, including facility registration, prior notice of imports, recordkeeping and administrative detention. In the next two months, IDFA will roll out the first two tools: its Hot Topics: Biosecurity Briefing on November 20 in Washington, D.C., and next month's launch of a new online service to help dairy and food companies comply with the challenging facility registration provision. The other two tools, a new manual and a second workshop, will be available in early 2004. "With these new rules, the dairy and food industries are faced with making significant changes very quickly, so we're providing several avenues of assistance," said Clay Detlefsen, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs and counsel. "Each tool will focus on a different aspect of FDA's biosecurity regulations, some of which are quite complex and wide-reaching." At Worldwide Food Expo on October 29-November 1, IDFA will launch the first tool, an online service specifically designed to help companies fulfill the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) facility registration provision by the December 12 deadline. This provision includes all domestic and foreign food facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for consumption in the United States. "IDFA's service is a simple, cost-effective way to help facilities comply with this sweeping new regulation by the December deadline. It's particularly useful to foreign facilities that need to identify a resident agent, which our system provides," noted Detlefsen. To provide this system, IDFA is partnering with an independent company, Registration and Licensing Systems, Inc. (RLS), which specializes in web-based regulatory data registration for government agencies. RLS will be providing its services to the dairy industry exclusively through IDFA. The program will be available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. FDA intends to offer a free online service by the end of this year, for companies that want to take their own responsibility for meeting the requirement. "We believe our comprehensive service will be attractive to companies that want an experienced company monitoring their facility registrations for compliance," stated Detlefsen. "Our program not only assists with the company's initial registration, but also provides a monthly email reminder of the information on file and the need to keep it current, as required by law. This maintenance is crucial in order to stay in compliance with FDA's rules." IDFA's second tool, Hot Topics: Biosecurity Briefing, is set for November 20 at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. FDA will release final rules on the facility registration and prior notice provisions by October 10, and companies must comply by December 12. IDFA's intense one-day workshop will focus primarily on what plant managers and operations professionals need to do at their dairy plants in order to meet the requirements. The program will include a demonstration of the new IDFA-RLS online service for facility registration. Plus, industry experts will review the latest industry guidelines, as well as the key concepts and procedures for securing dairy plants and protecting the national food supply — from farm to table. In addition, program participants are invited back to the nearby IDFA offices for hands-on assistance in registering their facilities. IDFA's Hot Topics: Biosecurity Briefing is priced at $495 for IDFA members, $695 for nonmembers. For the complete agenda, or to register, visit the "Meetings and Training" section of www.idfa.org, or contact Tanika Manning at tmanning@idfa.org, 202/220-3557. On June 8-9, 2004, IDFA will hold another biosecurity workshop at the Embassy Suites O'Hare in Rosemont, Ill. FDA's rules on the final two provisions — on the establishment/maintenance of records, and administrative detention — are expected to be released in late March 2004. This expanded workshop will cover what changes these two sets of rules will require of the dairy foods industry. IDFA's fourth tool will be a new manual on all four biosecurity provisions, designed to be a desk-side reference that complements the workshop training. IDFA will publish this manual in the first quarter of 2004, and it will be provided to attendees at the March 30-31 workshop. For complete information on IDFA's tools on FDA's biosecurity regulations, visit www.idfa.org or contact Tanika Manning at tmanning@idfa.org, 202/220-3557.
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IDFA is the Washington, DC based organization representing the nation's dairy processing and manufacturing industries and their suppliers. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), National Cheese Institute (NCI) and International Ice Cream Association (IICA). Its 500 plus members range from large multinational corporations to single plant operations, and represent more than 85% of the total volume of milk, cultured products, cheese, and ice cream and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States — an estimated $70 billion a year industry.
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