FDA Announces Two Public Hearings on Fresh Produce Tracing Systems
The Food and Drug Administration has announced two public meetings regarding product tracing systems for fresh produce. The first meeting will be held in College Park, MD on October 16, 2008, and the second meeting will be held in Oakland, CA on November 13, 2008.
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The FDA states that it needs to increase the speed and accuracy of traceback investigations to help limit the public health impact of a foodborne illness outbreak; to limit to a particular region, locality, farm(s), or processor(s) the source of the problem (where the source is in fact limited), so that an entire industry is not unnecessarily affected; to enable public health authorities and the food industry to provide targeted and accurate information about affected food to consumers; to institute steps to correct the source of contamination; and, as a result, to restore or enhance consumer confidence in produce safety.
The FDA intends its public meetings to stimulate and focus a discussion about mechanisms to enhance product tracing systems for fresh produce and to improve FDA's ability to use the information in such systems to identify the source of contamination associated with fresh produce-related outbreaks of foodborne illness. This discussion will help FDA determine what short and long term steps, such as issuing regulations, it should take to enhance the current tracing system. Aspects of these measures could require new legal authority.
- 10/16/08 meeting advance registration due by 10/08/08
- 11/13/08 meeting advance registration due by 10/30/08
| Deborah Harris (registration) | (240) 221-4326 |
| Juanita Yates (general questions) | (301) 436-1731 |
FDA notice (D/N FDA-2008-N-0513, FR Pub 09/24/08) available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-22430.pdf