Following last month’s finalization of two rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released its strategy for FSMA training, “Who Will Provide Training for the Food Industry? Public and Private Partners Working Together.” The strategy outlines the options for those who must comply with the new food safety regulations and introduces the FDA’s partners in promoting training to the global community of food suppliers.

Very small businesses have three years to comply with the new rules; small businesses have two years; and all others have one year.

FDA acknowledges that a one-size-fits-all strategy won’t be effective, so a variety of training options and delivery formats are available. The training strategy outlines all of those, as well as introduces the partners FDA is working with in government, industry, and academia to develop and implement the trainings.

The FSMA, passed more than four years ago, is a broad reform of the United States’ food safety system that focuses on prevention rather than reaction. The two regulations recently passed include the Preventative Controls for Human Food and Preventative Controls for Animal Food. Five more regulations are slated to be passed within the next year, including the Produce Safety, Foreign Supplier Verification Program, and Accreditation of Third Party Auditor rules, due by October 31, 2015; the Sanitary Food Transportation Act, due by March 31, 2016; and the Food Defense rules, due by May 31, 2016.