FSCI Food Law, Regulation & Safety: Guidance & Compliance
This guide provides links to resources related to the oversight and regulation of food composition, processing, manufacturing, testing, preservation, packaging, distribution and laws for the regulation and enforcement of food safety.
GUIDANCE & COMPLIANCE
Guidance & Compliance: This page offers detailed guidance and regulatory information essential for navigating FDA and USDA standards on food safety, labeling, and compliance.
GUIDANCE & REGULATORY INFORMATION
Navigate a range of FDA guidance and regulatory documents essential for compliance in food safety and labeling.
FDA Enforcement Reports
- What It Is: Reports detailing all FDA-monitored recalls.
- Why Use It: Track and understand the specifics of FDA enforcement actions and product recalls.
- FDA Enforcement Reports Includes details about all recalls monitored by the FDA, as included in the Enforcement Report once they are classified.
Food Guidance, Compliance & Regulatory Information (Biologics)
- What It Is: FDA’s guidelines on biologics affecting food products.
- Why Use It: Gain clarity on how biologics are regulated within the food industry.
- Food Guidance, Compliance & Regulatory Information (Biologics) Describes FDA’s interpretation of policy issues related to biologics.
Guidance Documents
- What It Is: A searchable database of FDA's current guidance documents.
- Why Use It: Find specific guidelines that impact various aspects of food safety and regulation.
- Guidance Documents Provides a comprehensive list of current FDA guidance documents with search and filter capabilities.
Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts
- What It Is: Information on recent FDA-regulated product recalls and safety alerts.
- Why Use It: Stay updated on safety issues that could affect compliance and consumer safety.
- Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts Contains information on certain recalls of FDA-regulated products, compiled from press releases and public notices.
Dockets Management
- What It Is: The official repository for FDA's rule-making and administrative documents.
- Why Use It: Access and review detailed regulatory proceedings and public comments.
- Dockets Management Serves as the repository for FDA's administrative proceedings and rule-making documents.
FDA Food Ingredients & Packaging
- What It Is: Regulations concerning the safety of ingredients and packaging used in food.
- Why Use It: Ensure that food products meet FDA standards for safety and packaging.
- FDA Food Ingredients & Packaging This discusses regulatory aspects more related to compliance and guidelines than basic law.
FDA Nutrition, Food Labeling, and Critical Foods
- What It Is: Standards and regulations for nutritional content and labeling of food products.
- Why Use It: Comprehend and apply FDA requirements for food labeling to ensure consumer information and safety.
FOOD COMPOSITION & SAFETY STANDARDS
This section provides essential guidance on food composition, packaging, and safety standards mandated by the USDA and FDA, including how ingredients and allergens are managed and labeled.
USDA Links to Food Composition Standards
- What It Is: Standards detailing the nutritional content requirements for food products.
- Why Use It: Important for ensuring food products meet health and nutritional standards.
Ingredients and Packaging
- What It Is: FDA regulations governing the safety of food additives and packaging materials.
- Why Use It: Critical for compliance with safety standards in food processing and packaging.
- Ingredients and Packaging FDA regulates the safety of substances added to food. We also regulate how most food is processed, packaged, and labeled.
Food Allergens
- What It Is: Information on managing and labeling food allergens.
- Why Use It: Essential for preventing allergic reactions and ensuring consumer safety.
- Food Allergens Each year, millions of Americans have allergic reactions to food. Although most food allergies cause relatively mild and minor symptoms, some food allergies can cause severe reactions, and may even be life-threatening.
Food Additives and Ingredients
- What It Is: Guidelines on the use and approval of food additives.
- Why Use It: Navigate compliance with regulations on food additives and their safe use.
- Food Additives and Ingredients Links to information and industry guidance documents about food additives and food additive petitions.
Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)
- What It Is: Criteria for substances added to food that are accepted as safe without full FDA review.
- Why Use It: Understand which additives do not require FDA approval under specific conditions.
- Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) "GRAS" is an acronym for the phrase Generally Recognized As Safe. Under sections 201(s) and 409 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the Act), any substance that is intentionally added to food is a food additive, that is subject to premarket review and approval by FDA, unless the substance is generally recognized, among qualified experts, as having been adequately shown to be safe under the conditions of its intended use, or unless the use of the substance is otherwise excepted from the definition of a food additive.
Packaging & Food Contact Substances (FCS)
- What It Is: Standards for materials that come in contact with food.
- Why Use It: Ensure that packaging materials meet safety requirements to avoid contamination.
Irradiation of Food & Packaging
- What It Is: Guidelines on the use of irradiation to enhance food safety and extend shelf life.
- Why Use It: Implement safe and effective irradiation practices in food processing.
- Irradiation of Food & Packaging FDA is responsible for regulating the use of irradiation in the treatment of food and food packaging. This authority derives from the 1958 Food Additives Amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) where Congress explicitly defined a source of radiation as a food additive (Section 201(s) of the FD&C Act).
FDA Environmental Decisions
- What It Is: A dedicated section on the FDA's website that provides information on environmental assessments and decisions related to food safety and packaging.
- Why Use It: Understand how environmental factors influence FDA regulations and policies on food ingredients and packaging, ensuring comprehensive compliance with safety standards.
FOOD SCIENCE ORGANIZATIONS
Discover leading global organizations dedicated to advancing the field of food science and technology through collaboration, education, and innovation.
Institute of Food Technologists (IFT)
- What It Is: A professional group uniting food science experts to foster knowledge sharing and innovation for global food safety and nutrition.
- Why Use It: Engage with cutting-edge research, networking opportunities, and educational resources to enhance your understanding and contributions to the field of food science.
- Institute of Food Technologists Envision what the very best minds involved in the science of food can achieve when they work together: providing each and every person on the planet with a safe, nutritious, and sustainable food supply. Since 1939, IFT has been advancing the science of food and its application across the global food system by creating a dynamic forum where individuals from more than 90 countries can collaborate, learn, and grow, transforming scientific knowledge into innovative solutions for the benefit of people around the world.
International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST)
- What It Is: A global federation that acts as the collective voice for food science and technology, promoting international cooperation and educational growth.
- Why Use It: Access a wealth of knowledge from international experts, participate in global symposia, and explore educational programs that advance food science technology globally.
- International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) The International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST), a country-membership organisation, is the global voice of food science and technology. It is the only representative for the discipline of Food Science and Technology elected into the International Council for Science (ICSU). It is a voluntary, non-profit federation of national food science organisations linking the world’s food scientists and technologists. IUFoST promotes the advancement of global food science and technology through its education programmes, leadership opportunities, encouragement of young scientists, workshops, regional symposia, international engagement with other global bodies and through IAFoST, the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. IUFoST fosters the worldwide exchange of scientific knowledge and ideas through the biennial World Congress, IAFoST, books, proceedings, scientific journals, an on-line journal, regular Scientific Information Bulletins, monthly News Briefs, a newsletter and social media. IUFoST aims to strengthen food science and technology’s role in helping secure the world’s food supply and eliminate world hunger by delivering programmessuch as distance assisting training, workshops, and integrated food systems targeted to these needs.