NRA hails FDA’s bioterrorism rules

The National Restaurant Association had submitted comments to FDA earlier this spring that were included in the final rules, which go into effect Dec. 12.

The modifications that FDA has made in these rules will improve the security of the nations food supply in a manner that will not unnecessarily impede the flow of food, or increase costs to the industry, said Steven Grover, the associations vice president of health and safety regulatory affairs in a news release.

While the restaurant industry was specifically exempted from the registration rule under the 2002 Bioterrorism Act, the association said the provisions could have raised the cost of the imported food and severely impacted the availability of perishable products that the nations 870,000 restaurants depend on every day.

Some of the suggestions submitted by the association that were included in the interim final rules include:

establishing a coordinated strategy for border protection by combining the efforts of both the U. S. Customs and the FDA to avoid duplication of prior notice;

adjustment of prior notification time to be more flexible, allowing for a free flow of foods over the border without major delays;

with respect to small shipments of food via international mail services for daily restaurant specials, allowing notifications to be made before the shipment is mailed instead of at the border;

greatly streamlining the registration process by allowing electronic submission via the Internet, by paper through surface mail, by fax or on CD-ROM by mail, so that FDA will be able to accept registration from anywhere in the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which began Oct. 16;

FDA using more flexible enforcement discretion for four months following the Dec. 12 deadline to ensure that all foreign and domestic companies have an adequate amount of time to comply with the regulations to avoid serious food supply disruptions.