Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Court orders FDA to publish proposed FSMA regulations by November 30

    A federal court has ordered the US Food and Drug Administration to complete the new food safety regulations of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act. According to a decision by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, FDA must publish all proposed FSMA regulations by November 30. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton ordered the comment period for the regulations will not close later than March 31, 2014, and all final regulations shall be published in the Federal Register no later than June 30, 2015.
    FSMA improves FDA's regulation and authority over food production, including petfood and treats, in numerous areas, including preventing contaminated petfood imports, new preventative controls and hazard analysis requirements for production facilities, and safer production of fruits and vegetables used as petfood ingredients. FSMA also grants FDA new authority to, for the first time, mandate recalls and suspend facilities, as well as new inspection and enforcement powers. But, FDA regulations implementing the statute's mandates were needed before these improvements take effect.
    On April 22, the US District Court for the Northern District of California held that FDA violated the law in "unlawfully withholding" the FSMA regulations. The court then ordered the parties to submit rvised proposals for new deadlines to complete the regulations, which the parties did on June 10. After consulting experts, the Center for Food Safety submitted new deadlines to the court. FDA refused to submit meaningful deadlines, offering only "target timeframes" well into 2016, which it argued it could unilaterally change.
    The court's Order Granting Injunctive Relief, issued on June 21, rejected the FDA's proposal. "Congress indicated that the rule-making process should be close-ended, rather than open-ended," according to the order. "Thus, the court finds defendant's 'target timeframes' to be an inadequate response to the request that the parties submit a proposal regarding deadlines that can form the basis of an injunction." The court granted the Center for Food Safety's motion for an injunction, set 2014-2015 deadlines as described above, and retained jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the order.

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