The Food and Drug Administration this week issued draft guidance to notify manufacturers of acidified and low-acid canned food products that FDA is planning to change the way companies, including some IDFA members, provide processing information to the agency. FDA aims to make it easier for manufacturers to report the steps they take to ensure their products are safe for consumers and to enhance its own efforts to protect public health.

According to FDA’s website, the draft guidance is not operational; it was issued to gather comments before the guidance is finalized. The current guidance for filing, dated July 2012, is still in effect.

In addition, FDA published two final guidance-for-industry documents to help beverage manufacturers determine whether their liquid food products are properly classified, either as a dietary supplement or a beverage. In the guidance, FDA reinforced current legal requirements regarding substances that companies may add to beverages and liquid dietary supplements.

The two documents are:

For more information, contact John Allan, IDFA vice president of regulatory affairs, at jallan@idfa.org.