Time to register for US exports
to register with its Food and Drug Administration and food
importers to give the agency advance notice before shipments arrive
at ports or border crossings. But both domestic and international
firms have been slow to register and could be caught out.
The regulations are part of an action plan devised by FDA to fulfil last year's Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Prevention and Response Act.
The new law will attempt to address the potential threat of bioterrorism to the domestic and imported food supply. Nearly 20 per cent of all imports into the US are food and food products but earlier this week only a quarter of the estimated number of food facilities required to register had done so. About half of these were foreign firms.
However Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association, told NutraIngredients.com that FDA is unlikely to refuse shipments over the next few days.
"I think FDA will enforce it at the border during the next 90 days. It will be easy to do it this way," said McGuffin. The FDA has said the rules will be 'enforced with discretion' through the prior notice system for four months, while it educated stakeholders on the law.
But in addition to registration of facilities, including all those that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for consumption in the United States, foreign firms also need to appoint a US agent. This is usually the company receiving their goods, but this could cause problems for those suppliers with several customers. Selecting one may threaten business relationships with others.
To counter such problems some trade associations and consultancy firms are offering their services to act as a US agent at a fee.
"Registration is free and even those companies that need to pay for an agent are not facing a prohibitive cost. I'm mostly concerned about small suppliers that have not been fully compliant with the rules," said McGuffin.
He added that the rule was not designed to disadvantage foreign firms. "But I think it is important for foreign suppliers to evaluate this after three months or so. If they identify a loss of revenue then they need to communicate this."
According to US government statistics, the highest imports for beverage manufacturing come from France, which generated sales of $401 million during January to September this year. Italy is the largest European supplier for food manufacturing, with sales worth $480 million in the year to September.
"It's totally obnoxious of us to make this requirement. All we did is create an internationl bureaucratic burden that won't protect the food supply. But while it won't quite be business as usual, this is not going to be unfamiliar and companies should just go and register," urged McGuffin.
For more information on the rules, see the FDA website.
