The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to hold a series of public meetings on two proposed rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act. The meetings will cover preventive controls for human food and produce safety. 

The first meeting, which IDFA representatives will attend, is scheduled for February 28 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. The second will be held March 11 in Chicago, and the third will be held in Portland, Ore., on March 27.

FDA will solicit oral and public comments from stakeholders on the proposed rules, discuss the rulemaking process and answer questions. See FSMA Meetings for details about the meetings.

The Preventive Controls for Human Food rule would require food companies, including dairy food manufacturers – whether they manufacture, process, pack or store food – to put in place better controls to reduce the risk of contamination. The Produce Safety rule would require farms that grow, harvest, pack or hold fruits and vegetables to follow standards that are aimed at preventing contamination.

To help members understand the proposed changes and how they will they affect dairy processors, IDFA will present the "Preventive Controls Webinar" on February 20. The webinar, sponsored by IDFA Business Partner Invensys Operations Management, will be held 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Clay Detlefsen, IDFA vice president for regulatory affairs, will be joined by Joe Levitt, partner, and Elizabeth Fawell, associate, of Hogan Lovells US LLP. They will outline the key requirements of the new rule.   

The webinar also will explain how the current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP's) relate to the proposed rule, how FDA will handle warehouses and intentional contamination under this rule, what will be required with respect to environmental monitoring and finished product testing and what the timeframe is for compliance.

Although the webinar is free for members, registration is required. Detlefsen said he encourages at least one person from each member company to participate and welcomes multiple registrations.

• Details and registration information are available here.

For more information on the proposed rule, contact Detlefsen at cdetlefsen@idfa.org.

For registration questions, contact Maria Velasco at mvelasco@idfa.org.