March 1, 2006

FDA Issues Fresh-Cut Produce Safety Guidance for Industry

Today, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the availability of a draft Guidance for Industry, "Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards of Fresh-Cut Fruits and Vegetables." The Guide provides helpful steps and measures to fresh-cut processors to ensure safe produce.

Fresh-cut produce is fresh produce processed by peeling, slicing, shredding, coring, trimming, or mashing with or without washing or other treatment (e.g., treatment with calcium chloride to maintain tissue firmness and inhibit browning) before being packaged for the retail market or consumer.

A major concern is that fresh-cut produce is a ready-to-eat food that is consumed without processing to eliminate pathogens that may be present. Incidences of foodborne illnesses indicate that processing fresh produce into fresh-cut produce increases the risk of bacterial contamination and growth by breaking the natural exterior barrier of the produce. The absence of processing to eliminate pathogens makes the implementation of a preventive program, such as the Guide, critical in minimizing microbial hazards of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.

The Guide complements FDA's Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations and provides a framework for identifying and implementing appropriate measures to minimize the risk of microbial contamination during the processing of fresh-cut produce. For example, the Guide recommends that processors remove plant juices released by cutting operations and as much excess water through draining methods such as spin drying and regularly inspect tools, for cutting, slicing, and shredding, for damage that could impair cleaning and sanitizing them.

Submit written or electronic comments within 60 days to the Division of Documents Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Submit electronic comments to Dockets Open for Comment.

MODEL FOOD EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLAN
Cooperative Effort Results in Model Template

FDA, in cooperation with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has announced the availability of a model Food Emergency Response Plan Template. The goal of the response plan is to enhance the protection of the nation's agricultural industry and food security through prevention, detection, response, and recovery.

The template provides states with a guide to develop either a stand-alone emergency response plan for responding to a food-related emergency or an addendum to an existing all-hazard state emergency response plan. Useful planning tools include documents previously developed in cooperation with the DHS-national planning scenarios, target capabilities, and uniform task lists.

Because a food emergency could occur at any point from farm to fork, including pre-harvest production, processing, and distribution, states can use the template to develop useful plans to manage a food emergency. In addition, states can establish a uniform structure and content that will result in response plans that are similar in structure, scope, and response operations among all states.

A food-related emergency involves the unintentional or deliberate contamination, threatened or actual, of food that impacts or may impact human health. A food emergency response plan does not apply to food incidents routinely handled by local or state health departments.

The response plan is available on the NASDA web site (available in PDF, 2.1MB). It includes the following:

• Concept of Operations - establishes the framework for actions (i.e., specific functions of a response) that will take place during an incident response.
• Activation Levels - establish activation levels that provide decision makers with definitions of various degrees of an emergency.
• Principal Parties - identification of all agencies, organizations and individuals (principal parties) needed to carry out the response.
• Roles and Responsibilities for State, Federal, Tribal, and local agencies and the private sector.

The response plan was developed through a federal-state cooperative agreement and in consultation with a consortium of stakeholders. Federal representatives included USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). State representatives included the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO).