FDA Removing Non-Renewed Food Facility Registrations from its Database

On January 12 food companies around the world found that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is in the process of removing all food facilities that did not renew their FDA registration by the deadline from its registration database.

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) requires food facilities to renew their FDA registrations every even-numbered year between October 1 and December 31. Any food facility that did not renew its registration by December 31, 2014 should re-register with FDA before it continues to ship food products to the United States, as its registration is now invalid.

“After the first renewal period in 2012, FDA didn’t purge the system until April 2013,” said Registrar Corp Senior Regulatory Specialist, Mary Hancock. “This year the turnaround was much faster, and we commend the Agency. The earlier that non-renewed facilities are removed from the system, the earlier we prevent food from non-compliant companies from entering the United States. It helps us work toward FSMA’s goal of proactive food safety.”

A registration that has been removed from FDA’s system cannot be renewed. Facilities that re-register will be assigned a new registration number. FDA does not charge a fee to re-register a facility. FDA requires facilities to provide “Prior Notice” of any shipments of food sent to the USA. FDA’s Prior Notice System will reject submissions made by facilities with invalid registrations. Food shipped to the U.S. by a facility with an invalid registration is subject to detention by FDA.