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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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T97-24                          Judith Foulke:    202-205-4144
June 11, 1997                   
                                Consumer Hotline: 800-532-4440


          1997 FOOD CODE UPDATES FOOD SAFETY GUIDELINES 


     The Food and Drug Administration is issuing its 1997 edition
of the Food Code containing the latest science-based information
on food safety.  The Food Code -- now available on FDA's internet
home page (www.FDA.gov), and soon to be in spiral-bound and
diskette versions -- provides guidelines for maintaining food
safety in restaurants, grocery stores, nursing homes, and other
institutional and retail settings. 
     More than 3,000 state and local regulatory agencies have
responsibility for regulating the grocery stores, restaurants and
institutions that sell or serve food across the United States. 
These agencies use the FDA Food Code as a model to help develop
or update their own food safety rules and provide consistency
between jurisdictions.
     The 1997 Food Code provides new information on the
following: 
     *  Safe egg handling and preparation -- The Food Code now 
uses language that recognizes the new technology for in-shell 
pasteurization (heating eggs long enough to destroy a specific 
bacterium without actually cooking the eggs).
     * Consumer advisories on consumption of raw and undercooked
foods of animal origin -- Consumer focus groups were consulted
for appropriate wording of consumer advisories.  The Food Code
discusses information derived from these focus groups,
recommendations of the Conference for Food Protection, and FDA's
desire to establish an effective consumer advisory mechanism. 
(The Conference for Food Protection, made up of representatives
from federal, state and local regulatory agencies, academia,
industry and consumer groups, makes recommendations related to
Food Code provisions.  Many of those recommendations originated
with the Association of Food and Drug Officials.)
     *  Specialized food safety guidelines for servicing
susceptible populations -- A new section combines all provisions
of the Food Code that apply to food safety for highly susceptible
populations, for example the very young or elderly who are in
institutions such as day care or health care facilities.  The
section adds specifics, such as requiring pasteurization or
commercial sterilization for beverages containing apple juices.  
      As with previous editions, food safety recommendations in
the Food Code are based on the latest science for preventing food
borne illness and are compatible with Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Point (HACCP) concepts and terminology.  HACCP is a
system for ensuring food safety that involves identifying and 
monitoring the critical points in food preparation where the 
risks of food borne hazards (microbial, chemical and physical)
are greatest.
     The electronic version of the Food Code is available with
hypertext link enabling the user to move around various parts of
the Food Code and supporting documents.
     The Food Code is also available from FDA in downloadable
form through the CFSAN WEB PAGE along with ordering information.
Spiral-bound copies (PB 97133656) $35.00, or Diskette version
Word Perfect 6.1 (PB97501274) $35.00 are available from:
National Technical Information Service
Springfield, VA 22161
(703) 487-4650 phone
(703) 321-8547 fax
(800) 553-NTIS (Rush)
orders@ntis.fedworld.gov
                                 
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