UPDATED January 2, 2014
The webinar will be held January 14, 1:30 – 3:45 p.m. Eastern time.

According to a ruling by the Federal Court of Appeals for the ninth circuit, the Food and Drug Administration must issue by December 20 a draft proposed rule on intentional contamination under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). To help members understand the rule, which is also known as the food defense rule, and its implications for the dairy industry, IDFA is hosting a webinar on January 14 with speakers from FDA and IDFA’s outside legal counsel.

The webinar, “Intentional Contamination and Food Defense: the Proposed Rule and the Tools,” will provide an overview of efforts to protect the food supply from intentional contamination, as well as the FDA tools and resources that are available. Joe Levitt, partner at Hogan Lovells, will focus on the key points of the rule, and Colin Barthel, food defense policy analyst at FDA, will discuss the agency’s Food Defense Plan Builder software program and other tools that members may use to comply with the rule when it is finalized.

“I collaborated with FDA during the development of this tool and during a number of vulnerability assessments that the tool is based upon, and I believe FDA has done a great job with this effort,” said Clay Detlefsen, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs, who also will present during the webinar. “Industry focus groups reviewed the tool and they liked it, too.”

The software program provides new functionality for food defense planning and implementation and harnesses existing FDA tools and resources into a single application. These tools and resources include FDA’s food defense guidance documents, Vulnerability Assessment Software Tool and Mitigation Strategies Database. Read about Food Defense and to download the software tool here.

The webinar will be held January 14, 1:30 – 3:45 p.m. Eastern time. Registration details are available here.

For more information, contact Detlefsen at cdetlefsen@idfa.org.