The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released their fifth annual “Report for the Reportable Food Registry (RFR).” This tool identifies early warning signs for potential health risks associated with reportable foods, supporting the FDA, its state and local partners, and the food industry to make immediate steps in removing contaminated foods from the market. It also provides an overview of data for the RFR’s first five years of operation.
The RFR and other relevant data is used by the FDA to determine key risk points when targeting and developing public health initiatives, including planning and prioritization of inspections, developing guidance, generating sampling assignments, issuing import alerts, and other activities. Just in its fifth year, the RFR received close to a thousand reportable food entries, including “initial reports about a safety concern with a food or animal feed (including food ingredients); 464 subsequent reports from suppliers or recipients of a food or feed for which a primary report had been submitted; and 244 amended reports to correct or add information to previously submitted reports.”
For more information:
- Reportable Food Registry At A Glance
- Current and Previous RFR Annual Reports
- RFR On-line Educational Resources
- Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Help to Implement New Provisions to RFR Requirements Added by FSMA
- Guidance for Industry: Questions and Answers Regarding Food Facility Registration (Sixth Edition)
- Draft Guidance for Industry: Prior Notice of Imported Food Questions and Answers (Edition 3)
- Draft Guidance for Industry: Questions and Answers Regarding Mandatory Food Recalls