Posted November 7, 2013
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) request to delay rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), according to a Food Safety News article available here.
In August of 2012, the Center for Food Safety filed a lawsuit against FDA over FSMA deadlines originally ordered by Congress to be completed by July 2012. For more information on the lawsuit and subsequent decisions and orders, a recent post from this blog is available here.
After the court established November 30, 2013 as the final deadline for releasing all draft FSMA rules, FDA appealed the decision. The Ninth Circuit denied FDA’s request to delay the rules while it considers the appeal, according to an article by The Hill available here. In addition, the court extended the deadline for FDA’s rule on food that has been intentionally adulterated to December 20. This extension was given due to the 16-day government shutdown in October.
George Kimbrell, attorney for the Center for Food Safety, said “Congress passed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) to end the preventable foodborne illness epidemic in this country…But without its implementing rules, the statute is an empty vessel.”
For more information on food safety and the FSMA, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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