The Australian and New Zealand fresh produce industries have been watching with interest the debate around the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) much-anticipated proposed rules on produce safety and preventive controls under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), to see what ― if any― impact this will have on exporters to the USA.
Speaking from the Center for Produce Safety at the University of California - Davis in the U.S, where he is currently attending critical meetings on food safety, Michael Worthington, CEO of PMA Australia-New Zealand, said it is important to keep in mind that so far only two rules, the Produce Safety Standards Rule, and the Preventive Controls for Human Foods Rule, have been released and that the industry has until 16th May 2013 to review the proposed rules and provide comment.
"The general consensus is that the Produce Safety Standards Rule is unlikely to cause much comment and would be adopted with minor adjustments only,” Mr Worthington said, “The Preventive Controls for Human Foods Rule may require further review, particularly around validation and verification data."
With the FDA releasing only two proposed rules at this stage, and with two additional proposed rules yet to be released for comment, one covering Imports and the other covering Third-Party Audits, Mr Worthington says that it may still be some time before the full impact of the Rules on the Australian and New Zealand fresh produce industry is known.
"We are hoping that existing compliance systems already in use, such as GlobalGAP and NZGAP, would remain acceptable under the new FSMA rules, as the last thing our industries need are more costly compliance systems and audits, however it is too early to confirm that this is the case and it will be some months before it all becomes clear,” Mr Worthington said.
"Globally, the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) has devoted energy to collaborating with the FDA by participating in FSMA public meetings held by the agency, providing comments on proposed FSMA rules and guidance, and sharing their staff and members' knowledge on industry food safety practices and realities."
"PMA Global have developed a comprehensive FSMA resource to help the global produce industry better understand the law itself as well as the proposed FDA regulations, and PMA A-NZ will continue to work closely with PMA Global to ensure appropriate resources are available to the Australian and New Zealand industry, via the Fresh Produce Safety - Australia and New Zealand website" Mr Worthington added.
