In 2011, President Barack Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) into law,[1] giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unprecedented power to regulate the country’s food supply.[2]
This new power includes the first time that the FDA has the authority to establish standards for the production and harvesting of produce and to identify preventive controls for food facilities. The FDA will also be able to place much greater restrictions on imported goods, establish programs for food testing, and conduct inspections of both domestic and foreign food facilities. These regulations will have a major impact across the food system, and the potential to drive up food costs and place unnecessary and intrusive restrictions on safe and proven practices.[3]
Unrealistic Deadlines
By setting up artificial and unrealistic deadlines in FSMA, Congress has effectively ensured that the regulations will be rushed and poorly considered. According to the FDA, it is required to “prepare more than 50 rules, guidance documents, reports and studies within strict timeframes.”[4] Some of the rules had to be finalized in as little as 18 months, which was not enough time given the complex issues involved.
As should have been expected, the FDA was unable to meet several deadlines. In August 2012, two activist groups sued the FDA in the United States District Court of the Northern District of California to compel the agency to issue seven rules that were past deadline.[5] In April 2013, the court agreed that the FDA should issue the seven rules promptly.[6] On August 13, 2013, the court rejected another FDA attempt to delay two of the seven rules.[7] As of now, four proposed rules have been published with comment periods ending in November 2013.[8]
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