The Food and Drug Administration has made some progress in creating a framework to carry out the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) but still has work to do in some areas, a new Government Accountability Office report says.
While FDA has taken steps to implement FSMA’s requirements, it "has not fully implemented certain sections of the law focused on preventing foodborne illness, such as issuing updated guidelines to help farmers reduce the risk of contaminating food, or established time frames to complete requirements,” the report said.
"Without FDA doing so, businesses, farmers, and other stakeholders may not have the information they need to effectively implement FSMA’s preventive framework for reducing foodborne illness,” it continued.
The report, released Wednesday, found the agency has not yet issued guidance on “good agricultural practices” for reducing contaminated food risks or to protect against intentional adulteration or tampering of food, or a report on the progress of implementing a national food emergency response laboratory network.
FDA has also not issued guidance on hazard analysis and preventative controls for human food, or established a system to improve FDA’s capacity to track and trace food that is in the U.S., the report says.
According to the report, FDA officials who spoke with GAO pointed to competing priorities and a 2024 reorganization as reasons for not completing these requirements. In March of last year, they said they intended to establish a food tracking and traceability system by July 2028, but did not provide specific timeframes for doing so, the report said.
However, the agency has promulgated nine key rules for food safety, including two establishing preventative controls for human and animal foods, one establishing produce safety standards, and one creating requirements for sanitary transportation practices, the report said.
GAO’s analysis noted the agency has fully completed 41 of 46 tasks needed to fulfill FSMA.
In a response to the report that was signed by Gary Andres, the Health and Human Services department’s assistant secretary for legislation, the agency concurred with all of GAO’s recommendations.
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