New US regulations set to impact Australian food supply chain

New US regulations will now require Australian producers and their providers to verify that their processes and products reach US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards.

Melbourne-based lawyers Hunt and Hunt, whose transport industry clients range from freight forwarders to customs brokers, say the 2010 US Food Safety Modernisation Act will bring about the most significant change since the FDA first increased its powers with respect to food.

Partner Andrew Hudson says the Act is much more comprehensive than existing bio security regulations.

“The Act will apply to everything and it’s much more intrusive,” Hudson said.

“It will require US importers to track and trace everything that goes into America along the supply chain. It’s a much more prescriptive, extensive set of obligations,” he said.

Hudson says the new regime is a response to several recent bouts of illness associated with imported foods.

“About 48 million people, representing one in six Americans get ill, 128,000 are hospitalised and 3,000 die each year from food borne diseases,” Hudson said.

"As a result, the new legislation gives the FDA a mandate to require comprehensive, prevention-based controls across the food supply chain.

“For the first time, importers must verify that their foreign suppliers have adequate preventative controls in place to ensure safety,” he said.

Hudson said Australian suppliers are most likely to build the extra obligations into their supply chain costs.

“They’ll have to say to their Americans clients, ‘We can do all this stuff, but we will have to recover the costs from you.’”

Other provisions of the Act:
• High risk foods – FDA now has the authority to require that high-risk imported foods be accompanied by a credible third-party certification as a condition of admission to this country.
• Additional resources will be directed towards foreign inspections – FDA now has the authority to refuse entry into the US of a food that has refused US inspection.

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