Do you export food to the US? Here’s what you need to know
If your business exports food products to the United States, recent updates to the US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) could affect you. Here’s what’s changing and what steps you may need to take.
Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
In 2022, the US food safety law (the FSMA) was updated to add a new Food Traceability Rule that establishes detailed traceability recordkeeping requirements from the point of origin to the point of sale, for certain foods deemed to be “high-risk”. The determination of which food products are ‘high-risk’ products was made through data from the US Centre for Disease Control on food-borne diseases. The US Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) has published a Food Traceability List containing products that require additional traceability records 'to allow for faster identification and rapid removal of potentially contaminated food from the market.’
To meet the Traceability Rule, US importers may seek further information from their foreign suppliers. The date for compliance is January 2026, although the US FDA is currently considering an extension to 2028.
Food Safety Systems Recognition Agreement
The New Zealand Government (Ministry for Primary Industries) entered a Food Safety Systems Recognition Agreement with the US FDA several years ago which establishes modified requirements for New Zealand exporters. The point of the agreement was to try and ‘buffer’ NZ exporters from the requirements of the FSMA, but there were product exceptions, and the modified requirements do not apply if the product is intended for further processing in the US.
In addition, through our networks (solution providers and our sister organisation GS1 US) we have learnt that some US distributers and retail outlets may well treat all products within a high-risk category (e.g. cheeses, seafood products) ‘the same’ and require full ‘pasture-to-plate’ traceability data. This will be regardless of whether the product is imported or not and regardless of whether the MPI-US FDA agreement applies. We understand this is because having one set of processes and systems for all products within a category (rather than distinguishing between products or origin) is just easier to implement and/or meets the perceived risk profile of the retailer/importer.
Action we suggest you take
If you are exporting food products to the US or products that are made into or associated with food, we suggest you engage with your US trading partners ASAP to check what their expectations are regarding the provision of data, given the requirement under the Traceability Rule to maintain records containing Key Data Elements (KDEs) associated with Critical Tracking Events (CTEs).
GS1 New Zealand can support you if required
If you find your US trading partners require additional traceability information from you, we are happy to support you. GS1 standards are being used globally to meet these traceability requirements, and a GS1 working group is well established in the US to support businesses and solution providers with these US FSMA requirements and has conducted many end-to-end pilots with the US FDA over the last few years. Please reach out to us if you need more information on using GS1 standards to meet these traceability requirements, and we can connect you with that information and/or solution providers who can support you.
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