Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation

FDA ISSUES NEW REGULATION TO PROTECT FOOD SAFETY

TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2016, KUALA LUMPUR: A new food safety regulation was introduced by United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that will require companies in the US and abroad to take steps to prevent intentional adulteration of the food supply. Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) urges Malaysian companies to familiarise themselves with the new rules.

The rule was announced by the FDA in a statement released in May and is the seventh and final major rule under the FDA Food Safety Modernisation Act (FSMA). The regulation aims to improve mitigation strategies (risk-reducing) to further protect the food supply. Under the new rule, both domestic and foreign food facilities, are required to complete and maintain a written food defense plan that evaluates the potential vulnerabilities to deliberate contamination that can cause wide-scale public health harm.

Facilities have to identify and implement mitigation strategies to address these vulnerabilities, establish food defense monitoring procedures and corrective actions, verify that the system is working, ensure that personnel assigned to these areas receive appropriate training and maintain certain records.

According to MATRADE New York’s Trade Commissioner, Muhd Shahrulmiza Zakaria, Malaysian exporters of processed food and beverages in the U.S. should take note on this new regulation and make necessary changes to their standard operating procedures (SOP) of food defense plan, including alleviation of strategies, identifying relevant personnel in charge if a crisis takes place and to prepare any related documentation.

“Food manufacturers are required to comply with the new regulation within three to five years after publication of the final rule, depending on the size of their business. Malaysian companies that require more guidance on this new rule can contact MATRADE’s New York office by emailing us to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,” he said.

According to the statement issued by FDA, this Intentional Adulteration final rule complements the other rules namely Preventive Controls rules for human food and animal food, the Produce Safety rule, Foreign Supplier Verification Program rule, Accreditation of Third-Party Certification rule and the rule on Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food. All these rules will work together to systemically strengthen the food safety system and better protect public health.

In 2015, the US was Malaysia’s third largest trading partner with total trade valued at RM129 billion. In the same year, Malaysia exported RM816.3 million worth of processed food to the US. For the period of January to April 2016, exports of processed food were valued at RM305 million and major exports products include cocoa products, food preparations/ingredients as well as processed seafood.