TRAILER RULE OF ROSE FULL

The FDA has published three waivers for businesses whose transportation operations are subject to Federal-State or local controls. The Sanitary Food Transportation Act (SFTA) allows the agency to waive the requirements of this FSMA rule if it determines that the waiver will not result in the transportation of food under conditions that would be unsafe for human or animal health, or contrary to the public interest. The required retention time for these records depends upon the type of record and when the covered activity occurred, but does not exceed 12 months. Records: Maintenance of records of written procedures, agreements and training (required of carriers).

Carriers covered by the rule are required to provide food safety training to transportation operations personnel when the carrier and shipper agree that the carrier is responsible for sanitary conditions during transport.

Training: Training of carrier personnel in sanitary transportation practices and documentation of the training.

Transportation operations: The measures taken during transportation to ensure food safety, such as adequate temperature controls, preventing contamination of ready to eat food from touching raw food, protection of food from contamination by non-food items in the same load or previous load, and protection of food from cross-contact, i.e., the unintentional incorporation of a food allergen.

For example, they must be suitable and adequately cleanable for their intended use and capable of maintaining temperatures necessary for the safe transport of food.

Vehicles and transportation equipment: The design and maintenance of vehicles and transportation equipment to ensure that it does not cause the food that it transports to become unsafe.

Specifically, the rule would establish requirements for: For additional information on key changes that have been made in the final rule, please see Key Changes in the FSMA Final Rule on Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food. The FDA made changes throughout the rule in response to public comments, as it has for the other FSMA rules that have become final in the last seven months. The proposed rule opened for public comment on February 5, 2014. Specifically, the FSMA rule establishes requirements for vehicles and transportation equipment, transportation operations, records, training and waivers. The requirements do not apply to transportation by ship or air because of limitations in the law. The rule establishes requirements for shippers, loaders, carriers by motor or rail vehicle, and receivers involved in transporting human and animal food to use sanitary practices to ensure the safety of that food. Because of illness outbreaks resulting from human and animal food contaminated during transportation, and incidents and reports of unsanitary transportation practices, there have long been concerns about the need for regulations to ensure that foods are being transported in a safe manner. The rule builds on safeguards envisioned in the 2005 Sanitary Food Transportation Act (SFTA). The goal of this rule is to prevent practices during transportation that create food safety risks, such as failure to properly refrigerate food, inadequate cleaning of vehicles between loads, and failure to properly protect food. This rule is one of seven foundational rules proposed since January 2013 to create a modern, risk-based framework for food safety. The earliest compliance dates for some firms begin one year after publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rule on Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food is now final, advancing FDA’s efforts to protect foods from farm to table by keeping them safe from contamination during transportation.

TRAILER RULE OF ROSE FULL

Docket Folder FDA-2013-N-0013 provides the full text of the rule.

Trailer rule of rose