The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will hold a public meeting on October 21, 2019, to hear from a broad cross-section of stakeholders on a modern approach, called “A New Era of Smarter Food Safety,” that the agency is planning to take to strengthen its protection of the food supply.

The input received at this meeting, and in comments submitted to the accompanying Federal Register docket, will help shape an FDA Blueprint for a New Era of Smarter Food Safety. We intend for the strategic plan to outline how this new approach will address public health challenges, including being able to trace sources of contaminated foods and using new predictive analytics tools like artificial intelligence to assess risks and prioritize the agency’s work and resources.

FDA is working towards enhancing its ongoing efforts to implement the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) by creating a more digital, traceable, and safer system to help protect consumers from contaminated food.

To learn more about the New Era in advance of the meeting, read an interview with Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner for Food Policy and Response, in which he explains what this means for the future of FDA’s food safety mission. And visit the New Era of Smarter Food Safety page on fda.gov for related communications and resources.

The October 21 meeting will be held from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville Hotel, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. It will include breakout sessions on key topics that include traceability, smarter tools for prevention, evolving business models and retail food safety, and food safety culture.

Public meeting attendees are encouraged to register online to attend the meeting in person and via live webcast. For questions about registering for the meeting or to register by phone: Mark Gifford, SIDEM, 1775 Eye St. NW, Suite 1150, Washington, DC 20006, telephone: 240-393-4496, Fax: 202-495-2091, email: EventSupport@sidemgroup.com.

For general questions about the meeting or to request special accommodations due to a disability, contact Juanita Yates, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (HFS-009), Food and Drug Administration, 5001 Campus Dr., College Park, MD 20740, phone: 240-402-1731, email: Juanita.Yates@fda.hhs.gov.

For more information about the meeting, as well as instructions on registration and requests to make an oral presentation, see the official Notice of the Meeting.  

Important Dates to Remember:

• Request to make an oral comment (October 2, 2019)
• Request special accommodations due to disability (October 2, 2019)
• Advanced Registration Closing Date (October 11, 2019)
• Public Meeting October 21, 2019, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Deadline to submit written/electronic comments (November 20, 2019)