FDA Takes Increased Food Safety Measures to Jamaica
11-22-2011
By Mike Rozembajgier
In just one of many signs that food safety here and overseas is of utmost importance to regulators in the United States, inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently went to Jamaica to inspect Jamaican-based food processing and packaging facilities that export to the U.S. While there seems to be some confusion about the outcome of the inspections, they still serve as a reminder that the FDA will not hesitate to crack down on companies found to be in violation of food safety regulations, forcing them to close their facilities, recall products, and deal with the potential fallout from producing unsafe food.
The inspectors sent to Jamaica were tasked with determining whether facilities there are in compliance with new regulations that have been established under the new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The inspectors are also setting up a special task force to help exporters meet U.S. standards.
The FDA’s presence in Jamaica signals the agency’s commitment to exercise its increased oversight authority mandated by the FSMA. One of the law’s main goals is to increase oversight of the U.S. food supply in an effort to make sure that federal regulators can prevent foodborne contamination rather than just respond when it is discovered.
This represents a major step forward in preventing food recalls in the U.S. If risks can be identified early, contaminated food is less likely to reach the marketplace. FDA auditors now have access to information about foreign facilities that pose the greatest risk to U.S. markets, helping facilitate the product retrieval and recall process.
As the FDA continues to increase its scrutiny of foreign exporters, it is important that international manufacturers and distributors take steps to improve their own ability to meet high quality standards. These companies would be wise also to find recall partners that understand the U.S. regulatory environment and can help not only to prepare for a recall, but also respond to the regulatory demands of the U.S. recall process.
As regulators continue to look for lapses in safety compliance, we can expect to see an uptick in warning letters from the FDA, particularly since the FSMA recognizes that preventive control standards improve food safety only to the extent that producers and processors comply with them.
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2 Responses to “FDA Takes Increased Food Safety Measures to Jamaica”
Dorothy says: Great article. Could you say if Jamaicans were trained in the RECALL management process by the FDA? You mentioned it but you did not state later if they were.
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