[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 135 (Thursday, July 14, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45507-45509]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16684]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. FDA-2016-N-1678]
The Food and Drug Administration Foods and Veterinary Medicine
Program's Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2016-2025
AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is announcing the
availability of the ``Foods and Veterinary Medicine (FVM) Program's
Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2016-2025'' that covers activities of
the Office of Foods and Veterinary Medicine, the Center for Food Safety
and Applied Nutrition, and the Center for Veterinary Medicine, as well
as related efforts by the Office of Global Regulatory Operations and
Policy and the Office of Regulatory Affairs. Our strategic plan
includes goals and objectives for the next 10 years including our
mission to implement the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
enacted in 2011, as well as details on our goals of protecting and
enhancing the health of both people and animals. We invite public
comment on the plan.
DATES: Submit either electronic or written comments on the strategic
plan at any time.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments as follows:
Electronic Submissions
Submit electronic comments in the following way:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted
electronically, including attachments, to http://www.regulations.gov
will be posted to the docket unchanged. Because your comment will be
made public, you are solely responsible for ensuring that your comment
does not include any confidential information that you or a third party
may not wish to be posted, such as medical information, your or anyone
else's Social Security number, or confidential business information,
such as a manufacturing process. Please note that if you include your
name, contact information, or other information that identifies you in
the body of your comments, that information will be posted on http://www.regulations.gov.
If you want to submit a comment with confidential
information that you do not wish to be made available to the public,
submit the comment as a written/paper submission and in the manner
detailed (see ``Written/Paper Submissions'' and ``Instructions'').
Written/Paper Submissions
Submit written/paper submissions as follows:
Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for written/paper
submissions): Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug
Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
For written/paper comments submitted to the Division of
Dockets Management, FDA will post your comment, as well as any
attachments, except for information submitted, marked and identified,
as confidential, if submitted as detailed in ``Instructions.''
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket No.
FDA-2016-N-1678 for ``FDA Foods and Veterinary Medicine (FVM) Program's
Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2016-2025.'' Received comments will be
placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as ``Confidential
Submissions,'' publicly viewable at http://www.regulations.gov or at
the Division of Dockets Management between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday
through Friday.
Confidential Submissions--To submit a comment with
confidential information that you do not wish to be made publicly
available, submit your comments only as a written/paper submission. You
should submit two copies total. One copy will include the information
you claim to be confidential with a heading or cover note that states
``THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION.'' The Agency will
review this copy, including the claimed confidential information, in
its consideration of comments. The second copy, which will have the
claimed confidential information redacted/blacked out, will be
available for public viewing and posted on http://www.regulations.gov.
Submit both copies to the Division of Dockets Management. If you do not
wish your name and contact information to be made publicly available,
you can provide this information on the cover sheet and not in the body
of your comments and you must identify this information as
``confidential.'' Any information marked as ``confidential'' will not
be disclosed except in accordance with 21 CFR 10.20 and other
applicable disclosure law. For more information about FDA's posting of
comments to public dockets, see 80 FR 56469, September 18, 2015, or
access the information at: http://www.fda.gov/regulatoryinformation/dockets/default.htm.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov and insert the docket number, found in brackets in
the heading of this document, into the ``Search'' box and follow the
prompts and/or go to the Division of Dockets Management, 5630 Fishers
Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mia Mercer, Office of Foods and
Veterinary Medicine, 10903 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20993,
301-796-8794.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
We are announcing the availability of the FVM Program's Strategic
Plan for Fiscal Years 2016-2025 in order to inform the public of our
goals for the next 10 years. We are implementing the modernization of
FDA's regulatory framework for the FVM Program. We are focused on
continuing to drive toward a more proactive, preventive, risk-informed
approach to food and feed safety, nutrition, and animal health.
The FVM Program works to ensure the American public has food that
is safe and nutritious and that animal drug products are safe and
effective. Our priority is to obtain high rates of compliance with
standards necessary to protect public health and meet consumer and
other stakeholder expectations. Recognizing the unique challenges we
face in the area of food safety in the 21st century, Congress enacted
FSMA which requires (among other things):
Comprehensive prevention-oriented food safety standards
across the food system;
mandated domestic inspection frequency, based on risk, to
ensure high rates of compliance;
a national integrated food safety system based on full
partnership with States; and
a new import safety system based on food safety
accountability for importers, increased foreign presence, and increased
collaboration with foreign governments.
Our FVM Program Strategic Plan takes this statutory framework into
account, places high priority on the implementation of FSMA, and
focuses on how we plan to modernize our food safety work including:
An increased focus on obtaining compliance with preventive
control standards rather than finding and responding to legal
violations after an illness or outbreak has occurred;
strengthening our technical expertise and capacity to
support FDA, industry, and other stakeholders in implementing the new
prevention standards;
furthering federal, State, local, and territorial
partnerships, and investing in training and capacity to ensure
efficient, high quality, and consistent oversight nationwide; and
broadening interaction with foreign partners and
increasing oversight of
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importers, who will have more responsibility for the safety of imported
foods.
Beyond FSMA's implementation, the FVM Program Strategic Plan provides
details on our goals of protecting and enhancing the health of people
and animals. The active engagement of all stakeholders and partners,
both internal and external, is critical to the successful
implementation of this plan.
II. Electronic Access
Persons with access to the Internet may obtain the FVM Program
Strategic Plan at http://www.regulations.gov.
III. References
The following references have been placed on display in the
Division of Dockets Management (see ADDRESSES) and may be seen by
interested persons between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday,
and are available electronically at http://www.regulations.gov. (FDA
has verified the Web site addresses in this reference section, but we
are not responsible for any subsequent changes to the Web sites after
this document publishes in the Federal Register.)
1. FDA Foods and Veterinary Medicine Program Strategic Plan, FY
2016-2025, available at http://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/centersoffices/officeoffoods/ucm273269.htm.
2. Partnership for Food Protection (PFP) Strategic Plan FY 2015
through 2020, available at http://www.fda.gov/downloads/ForFederalStateandLocalOfficials/FoodSafetySystem/PartnershipforFoodProtectionPFP/UCM423834.pdf.
Dated: July 11, 2016.
Leslie Kux,
Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2016-16684 Filed 7-13-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4164-01-P