FMI Responds to Reagan-Udall Foundation Report, Urging Additional Time and Flexibility

Arlington, VA - Today, FMI - The Food Industry Association offered its support for the process set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Reagan-Udall Foundation to seek feedback from stakeholders regarding challenges in complying with the FDA's Food Traceability Rule. FMI Chief Public Policy Officer Jennifer Hatcher provided the following statement in light of the release of the Reagan-Udall Foundation's report.

"FMI appreciates the efforts by the Reagan-Udall Foundation and FDA to engage with the food industry through roundtable discussions about the regulatory requirements under the Food Traceability Rule - the most complex rule the food industry has ever faced. As the report demonstrates, the food supply chain is unified in expressing that additional time and flexibility is required in order to comply with the rule in a way that ensures the billions of dollars and millions of staff hours needed for implementation will be used in a productive way to enable FDA to retrieve the information they need more efficiently and accurately.

"To be clear, since the final rule was published, FMI and our member companies have spent considerable effort including thousands of hours collaborating with dozens of members and staff to identify compliance solutions and develop resources to support our entire membership. These include an implementation guide, various templates, and a compliance guide - all developed with the input of professionals across our member companies that are experts in traceability, food protection, industry collaboration, technology, supply chain, and government relations.

"We ask FDA to take this information into account to provide more time for compliance and work to participate in data retrieval pilot projects to ensure that implementation will provide meaningful value to FDA without unnecessarily driving up costs or negatively impacting product availability."