Source: Susan Kelly, MEATINGPLACE, 1/19/18


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has published draft guidance detailing updates to its policy on public warning and notification of recalled products, including food, as part of an effort to ensure better, more timely information to consumers.
The policy changes come after an Office of the Inspector General audit found that FDA’s current protocol can be too slow and put consumers at risk.

The draft guidance outlines circumstances when a company should issue a public warning about a recall, gives a timeline to issue such a warning, discusses what information should be included, and describes situations where FDA may take action to issue its own public warning should a company’s warning be deemed insufficient.

The agency said it is also developing a new policy on what information it will make available to help the public identify a hazardous recalled food. The agency provides descriptions, lot codes and photographs, as well as some geographic or retail-related information for many recalls. But in some situations, additional information such as specific stores that may have sold a potentially unsafe, recalled food may help, FDA said.

The draft guidance also describes FDA’s policy for moving forward with posting recalls to FDA’s Enforcement Report before a final health risk determination is made. The report is a listing of all recalls monitored by FDA.

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