A number of changes to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) implementation timeline were announced Wednesday. First, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to publish revised language for the proposed rule on preventive controls for animal food in early summer 2014, alongside the revised produce safety and preventive controls for human food rules. FDA also plans to extend the comment period for other elements of FSMA. The new deadline for the intentional adulteration and accompanying draft qualitative risk assessment will be June 30, a 90-day extension from the March 31 deadline originally set by the court. The announcement comes a week after FDA held its third and final public meeting on the rule in Anaheim, CA. Because the agency will release a revised version of the animal food rule, the March 31 deadline for comments on preventive controls for animal food will remain despite calls for an extension from the grain and feed industry. Richard Sellers, the American Feed Industry Association’s senior vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs, said that his organization is “disappointed” that FDA is not giving the industry more time to review the rule “provided the agency themselves was given an extension by the courts.” Last on the list of Wednesday’s updates, FDA is also extending the comment period on the draft methodological approach to identifying high-risk foods an additional 45 days until May 22. “The Agency is committed to providing adequate time to comment on proposed rules while recognizing the need to meet court-ordered deadlines for final rules,” reads an FDA statement. FDA will officially announce the extensions in the Federal Register and will issue constituent updates to inform stakeholders.
Lydia Zuraw is a graduate of Northwestern University with a bachelor's from the Medill School of Journalism. She was born and raised in the suburbs of Baltimore and lived in Illinois, Scotland and Washington state before returning to the East Coast.
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Editor’s Note: Food Safety News Washington D.C. correspondent Lydia Zuraw for the past two and one half years will after today be found reporting for nonprofit Kaiser Health
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