WASHINGTON D.C. — Compliance deadlines for two key parts of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) came and went in September. This means animal food manufacturers are now expected to adhere to both Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP) and Hazard Analysis and Preventive Controls (HA/PC) regulations enforced by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

To keep pet food and feed manufacturers in the loop, the FDA on Sept. 30 launched a Food Safety Dashboard that will “track the impact of the seven foundational rules” for FSMA implementation, the agency stated. The dashboard includes two features, one for Preventive Controls and CGMP measures, and another for Imported Food Safety Measures related to the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP).

The FDA said the dashboards will track outcomes of inspections and recalls and monitor progress and performance of facilities related to those FSMA rules. Data for other FSMA outcomes will be added over time.

“We recognize that the prevention-oriented system that FSMA created is not failproof. With this in mind, we are also tracking the speed of response to problems when they do arise,” the agency stated.

For example, the FDA said it will be tracking the amount of time it takes for companies to issue public notification for Class 1 recalls for both human and animal food.

Interpretation of the data provided in the dashboards is expected to be influenced by factors such as company size, reporting discrepancies, and education.

“Taking into account these factors, considering the changing sizes of businesses subject to these regulations as these regulations become effective, and the changing regulatory approach from educational to more regulatory, the agency expects that it will take several years to establish meaningful trends to evaluate progress toward achieving the performance goals presented on the dashboard,” the FDA stated.

The Food Safety Dashboard is part of the FDA-TRACK program, a performance management system and one of the tools recently developed by the FDA to advance its New Era of Smarter Food Safety initiative. The dashboard will be updated quarterly, according to the FDA.

“Having this data will help the agency identify trends in food safety, implement a risk-informed planning and resource allocation framework, and modernize the agency’s food safety work in a way that will help achieve a new era of smarter food safety,” the agency stated.

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