- As previously covered on this blog, in November 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rule on Accredited Third-Party Certification that established a program for the accreditation of third-party certification bodies to conduct food safety audits and to certify that foreign food facilities and food produced by such facilities meet applicable FDA food safety requirements.
- On January 31, 2018, the FDA announced that ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) – an organization jointly owned by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society for Quality (ASQ) – became the first accreditation body to receive FDA recognition under the voluntary Accredited Third-Party Certification Program, created by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). FDA explained that it recognized ANAB for a five-year term because it met the applicable FDA requirements, which were validated through application review and on-site assessment. Additional information on this development is available in our client alert available here.
- Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor and provide updates regarding FDA’s implementation of the Accredited Third-Party Certification Program and other FSMA-related issues.