The document serves as a guide to help each industry operate safely as all 50 states have begun at least partially relaxing stay-at-home orders and allowing some businesses to reopen.
The USDA and FDA announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to help prevent interruptions at FDA-regulated food facilities, including fruit and vegetable processing.
The final rule, The Sustainable, Ecological, Consistent, Uniform, Responsible, Efficient (SECURE) rule, will bring USDA’s plant biotechnology regulations into the 21st century by removing duplicative and antiquated processes in order to facilitate the development and availability of these technologies through a transparent, consistent, science-based, and risk-proportionate regulatory system.
One of the letters directs meat and poultry processing plants that are currently closed and have no clear timetable for resuming operations to submit written documentation of their protocol to USDA.
Blue Bell is accused of distributing ice cream products that were manufactured under unsanitary conditions and contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.