The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule that strengthens its authority to detain potentially unsafe food from entering into the markets.
The final rule makes the criteria for administrative detention in line with the changes done to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which was ratified by President Obama in 2011.
According to the final rule, instead of substantial proof that a particular food product poses health risk, FDA can detain it if it thinks the product is either adulterated or mislabelled.
Earlier, FDA could detain a food product only if it had a evidence that the food presented a threat to health. Now, the agency can hold the products for up to 30 days until a decision to further enforcement action, such as seizure is taken.
FDA added that the new regulation provides more flexibility in use of administrative detention and it intends to use this tool appropriately.
