FDA Launches Electronic Registry for Faster Food Safety Alerts
September 8, 2009
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently launched an electronic food database that will allow companies and producers to immediately report cases of food-borne illnesses to the government.
This food database, which was introduced to prevent food-borne outbreaks, requires companies to alert FDA within 24 hours of discovering a potential contaminant in a certain food product.
The system is part of a 2007 law that aims to improve food safety alerts in the country. During the previous years, FDA has been criticized by several consumer groups for its slow response to a number of food-borne outbreaks and drugs that caused illnesses and injuries.
In the past, FDA Senior Adviser Michael Taylor said the agency will only announce a recall after people get sick. But with a database system, Taylor said FDA can warn consumers even before an outbreak occurs.
Meanwhile, Taylor said that any manufacturer and company that will fail to report potential food-borne outbreaks after 24 hours of discovering a contaminant will face fines, injunctions, and other forms of punishment.
Before the system was introduced, reporting a potential outbreak is usually voluntary.
The US Congress is considering of introducing a more comprehensive food safety bill that will give FDA bigger budget and more authority to order product recalls.
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