Advocates Counter FDA Request for FSMA Rulemaking Deadline Extensions
The Center for Food Safety has filed its reply to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) request that a federal court in California reconsider the Food Safety Modernization Act implementation rulemaking deadlines it established for the agency. Ctr. for Food Safety v. Hamburg, No. 12-4529 (N.D. Cal., filed August 2, 2013). Additional information about FDA’s motion appears in Issue 492 of this Update. While the center argues that FDA is attempting to re-litigate issues the court has already decided, it does not oppose a one-time, 60-day deadline extension for the food transportation rule.
Meanwhile, FDA has issued notices extending until November 15, 2013, the
comment periods on its proposed “Current Good Manufacturing Practice
and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food”
and “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of
Produce for Human Consumption.”
According to FDA, the extension will allow stakeholders to consider the
interrelationships between these proposals, issued in January 2013, and the
two proposals announced in July on foreign supplier verification and the
accreditation of third-party auditors/certification bodies. See Federal Register,
August 9, 2013.
