Timothy P. Weigner
Director, Food Safety Programs
Food Marketing Institute
655 15th Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
Re: Position Regarding Federal Registration of Retail Food Establishments
Dear Tim:
We have received your question concerning the feeling of the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) relative to language contained in bioterrorism legislation before Congress, which would, if enacted, require that food establishments, including retail food stores, register with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The AFDO Board of Directors, hereinafter referred to as AFDO, would like to offer the following comments as clarification on this issue.
AFDO agrees with the concept of regulatory agencies, including the FDA, needing to know which food establishments are operating, and where those establishments are located. The need at the federal level stems, in part, from a desire to register foreign establishments that export food products into the United States; FDA could not reasonably require registration of foreign establishments, without first requiring registration of domestic establishments. However, AFDO believes that federal registration should only apply to manufacturing and warehousing establishments, and only in those instances where such establishments are not already registered with a state or local government food safety agency. Additionally, AFDO believes that the exemptions that are provided to restaurants by this legislation should also be provided to retail food stores for several reasons:
• Years ago, there was a definite distinction between retail food stores and restaurants; however, in recent years, with the addition of value-added operations within retail stores (i.e. food service, salad bars, sushi, etc.), that distinction no longer exists;
• As is the case with restaurants, FDA does not, as a policy, regulate retail food stores; it makes no sense for FDA to “register” establishments that they do not regulate;
• Food establishments, especially those at the retail level, are very fluid in their locations, and state and local jurisdictions are better equipped to monitor their openings, movements and/or closings. A state or local listing, in this case, would be far more current and accurate than a federal one.
AFDO believes that a more appropriate system of “registration”, or of determining what food establishments are operating, would be to leverage the state and local resources that
are already in place to register, permit or license food establishments. Most state (and/or local) food safety agencies already maintain extensive and comprehensive inventories of the food establishments that operate within their jurisdictions. If FDA were to cooperatively partner with state and local government food safety agencies, this existing information could be quickly, easily, and in many cases, electronically shared, and at far less expense than building and maintaining a new and duplicative federal registration system. Additionally, leveraging the resources already expended by state and local governments is an idea that fits nicely into the development of a fully integrated, seamless National Food Safety System, a concept that AFDO has advocated for many years, and a project that many federal, state and local government agencies and employees have devoted a great deal of effort to for the past three years.
We hope that this provides clarification to your concerns about the proposed registration of retail food stores. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Doug Saunders
President
Association of Food and Drug Officials
cc: AFDO Board of Directors
