FDA Prepares to Revise Good Manufacturing Processes

Posted by Andrew on 15 April 2010 | 0 Comments

Tags: News

The FDA announced on Tuesday that it has entered the rule making phase of proposed revisions to its Good Manufacturing Processes. These rules would replace the current regulations and would apply to all food products, including bottled water.

 

In a speech to attendees at the 2010 Food Safety Summit on April 13, 2010 in Washington, D.C., Paul South, Ph.D. of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) announced that the Agency is in the rulemaking phase for revised regulations for current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs). The new rule would replace the current regulations at 21 CFR Part 110 and would apply to all foods, including bottled water. At this time, there are no new cGMP regulations in process specifically for bottled water.

IBWA is part of a coalition of more than 60 trade associations and companies that have provided comments to FDA during the past few years to assist the Agency in developing a sound, science-based revision to the current cGMP regulations.

Although FDA cannot discuss the contents of the draft proposed rule at this time, the cGMP coalition presented a response after FDA's presentation, outlining the coalition's recommendations submitted to FDA. The industry group, including IBWA, strongly favors inclusion of HACCP and food protection measures as an integral part of the cGMP revised rule. The coalition, which also supports Senate Bill S510, which covers food safety and protection from "farm to fork."

IBWA will inform members when the proposed rule is published.

 

Source: http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/ibwa/issues/2010-04-15/2.html

 

It will be interesting to see what potential impact these regulations will have on the bottled water industry, and the U.S food industry as a whole.