January 6, 2010

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been cautioned by the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) about the limitations of product-tracing systems for industries that handle large volumes of commingled commodities.

At a joint public meeting held by the FDA and the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, the NGFA submitted a statement warning that overemphasis on such systems could divert limited human and financial resources away from efforts focused on preventing food and feed safety hazards.

The NGFA said that the grain, feed and grain processing industry is covered by the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 requirement that facilities maintain records sufficient to identify the immediate previous source and next subsequent recipient of products they receive and subsequently ship, as well as the identity of the transporter used to distribute such products.

NGFA also believed any new product-tracing requirement imposed by the government should be based upon the safety risk posed by the underlying commodity or food/feed product, as determined by a comprehensive risk assessment that considers past foodborne illness incidents and their severity.

The association urged the FDA to reflect on the impact of the government's new Reportable Food Registry before adding new product-tracing requirements. The Reportable Food Registry, which was activated last September, aims to increase the speed and accuracy of product tracing and specifically targets products that facilities determine may pose a serious threat to human or animal health.