FDA Seeks To Improve Understanding Of Its Food Code

By Laurel Maloy, contributing writer, Food Online

Launched in conjunction with 2013’s Food Code, the FDA releases the Food Code Reference System

First issued in 1993, in its current form, the FDA’s publishing of the 2013 Food Code celebrated its 20^th anniversary last year. This 768 page document is largely unchanged from the 2009 edition, mostly incorporating editing changes and correcting typographical errors, as well as updating links and addressing electronic access issues. It also contains recommendations made at the 2012 biennial meeting of the Conference for Food Protection. The complete list of modifications and improvements can be viewed in the Preface on page V (page 13 of the PDF version of the Food Code).   

A collaborative effort, the eighth edition of the Food Code is published by the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).The code is designed to be a “model code and reference document” for all governmental agencies, from city to tribal. It establishes guidelines for businesses with food service operations and retail food stores, as well as providing guidance for food service processes in institutions, such as schools, hospitals, and nursing homes.

The Food Code can be quite complicated to understand. For example, Section 8 of the Preface (page 16 through 19), has extensive direction as to how users can and should interpret the code’s language and various annotations. It incorporates federal Hazard and Critical Control Points (HACCP) guidelines and its chapters address many of the same guidelines as the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA), though broken down into large, generalized categories:

• Chapter 1 - Purpose and Definitions
• Chapter 2 - Management and Personnel
• Chapter 3 - Food
• Chapter 4 - Equipment, Utensils, and Linens
• Chapter 5 - Water, Plumbing, and Waste
• Chapter 6 - Physical Facilities
• Chapter 7 - Poisonous or Toxic Materials
• Chapter 8 - Compliance and Enforcement

Each chapter is, however, explained in a table of contents spanning pages 21 through 32, 11 pages, of the PDF version of the document.

The FDA’s launch of the Food Code Reference System (FCRS) is intended to make understanding the FDA Food Code easier. This searchable data base contains “interpretative positions and responses to questions” concerning the Food Code and is meant to support the FDA’s ongoing efforts to prevent foodborne illnesses. Users can search content using one of four different methods:

1. Reference Document
2. Code Provision
3. Provision Text
4. Document Text

In the event you have questions about utilizing the FCRS, you can contact the Retail Food Protection Team (RFPT), part of the FDA’s National Retail Food Team at RetailFoodProtectionTeam@fda.hhs.gov. The RFPT is located within the Office of Food Safety in the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN).