February 3, 2003

Today the Federal Register published FDA's proposed regulations requiring Registration of Food Facilities and Prior Notice of Imported Food. These regulations were proposed in response to the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (the Bioterrorism Act), which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on June 12, 2002. The Bioterrorism Act includes a large number of provisions to help ensure the safety of the U.S. from bioterrorism, including new authority for the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to take action to protect the nation's food supply against the threat of intentional contamination. FDA, as the food regulatory arm of DHHS, is responsible for developing and implementing these food safety measures. FDA is accepting public comments on the proposed regulations through April 4, 2003, which is 60 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register. The proposed regulations can be found at http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fsbtact.html. Current information about provisions of the Bioterrorism Act under FDA's jurisdiction and the agency's implementation plans is available at http://www.fda.gov/oc/bioterrorism/bioact.html.

This Constituent Update is followed by the five attachments listed below:

Two Press Releases:

"FDA Proposes Regulation for Registering Food Facilities"
"Prior Notice of Imported Food Shipments Proposal"

Three Fact Sheets:

"Protecting the Food Supply: FDA Actions on New Bioterrorism Legislation" (Overview)
"Proposed Regulation: Registration of Food Facilities" (Docket # 02N-0276)
"Proposed Regulation: Prior Notice of Imported Food Shipments" (Docket # 02N-0278)