Food Safety Modernization Act

The Food Safety Modernization Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 4, 2011. The FSMA has given the Food and Drug Administration new authority to regulate the way foods are grown, harvested and processed.

About 48 million people in the U.S. (1 in 6) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne diseases, according to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a significant public health burden that is largely preventable.

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is transforming the nation’s food safety system by shifting the focus from responding to foodborne illness to preventing it. Congress enacted FSMA in response to dramatic changes in the global food system and in our understanding of foodborne illness and its consequences, including the realization that preventable foodborne illness is both a significant public health problem and a threat to the economic well-being of the food system.

FDA has finalized seven major rules to implement FSMA, recognizing that ensuring the safety of the food supply is a shared responsibility among many different points in the global supply chain for both human and animal food. The FSMA rules are designed to make clear specific actions that must be taken at each of these points to prevent contamination. Rules and Related Programs Guidance Documents Training and Technical Assistance Compliance and Implementation Tools FSMA Background FSMA's Impact on Public Health 1)

CDC Food Safety Role

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is charged with implementing most of the laws, rules and guidance that are part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), but CDC plays a key role.

The act, signed into law in 2011, seeks to protect public health more effectively by strengthening the food safety system. FSMA focuses on preventing food safety problems before they occur and recognizes the importance of strong foodborne illness and outbreak surveillance systems. Rapidly detecting and responding to foodborne disease outbreaks is crucial to stop outbreaks, prevent them from happening, and ultimately decrease the burden of foodborne illness.

FSMA directs CDC to enhance foodborne illness surveillance systems through improved collection, analysis, and reporting of foodborne illness data. CDC supports FSMA with four key activities:

Creation and management of Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence with academic partners at state health departments to serve as resources for local, state and federal public health professionals to detect and respond to foodborne illnesses and outbreaks

Implementation of activities to improve the collection, analysis, and reporting of foodborne surveillance data supported by guidance from a multidisciplinary working group

Development and dissemination of guidelines to manage the risk of food allergy and anaphylaxis in schools and early childhood education programs.2)

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