[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 215 (Tuesday, November 6, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55551-55552]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-24247]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Food and Drug Administration
[Docket No. FDA-2015-D-0138]
Questions and Answers Regarding Mandatory Food Recalls: Guidance
for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff; Availability
AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is announcing the
availability of a final guidance for industry and FDA staff entitled
``Questions and Answers Regarding Mandatory Food Recalls: Guidance for
Industry and FDA Staff.'' The guidance provides information on the
implementation of the mandatory food recall provisions of the FDA Food
Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The guidance is in the form of
Questions and Answers and provides answers to common questions that
might arise about the mandatory recall provisions and FDA's plans for
their implementation.
DATES: The announcement of the guidance is published in the Federal
Register on November 6, 2018.
ADDRESSES: You may submit either electronic or written comments on
Agency guidances at any time as follows:
Electronic Submissions
Submit electronic comments in the following way:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Comments submitted
electronically, including attachments, to https://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 https://www.regulations.gov.
[[Page 55552]]
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): Dockets Management Staff (HFA-305), Food and Drug
Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
For written/paper comments submitted to the Dockets
Management Staff, 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-2015-D-0138 for ``Questions and Answers Regarding Mandatory Food
Recalls: Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff.'' Received comments will
be placed in the docket and, except for those submitted as
``Confidential Submissions,'' publicly viewable at https://www.regulations.gov or at the Dockets Management Staff 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 https://www.regulations.gov.
Submit both copies to the Dockets Management Staff. 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: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-09-18/pdf/2015-23389.pdf.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or
the electronic and written/paper comments received, go to https://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 Dockets Management Staff, 5630 Fishers Lane,
Rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.
You may submit comments on any guidance at any time (see 21 CFR
10.115(g)(5)).
Submit written requests for single copies of the guidance to the
Office of Strategic Planning and Operational Policy, Office of
Regulatory Affairs, Food and Drug Administration, 12420 Parklawn Dr.,
Element Building, Rm. 4141, Rockville, MD 20857. Send two self-
addressed adhesive labels to assist that office in processing your
request. See the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for electronic
access to the guidance.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Seth Brown, Office of Regulatory
Affairs, Food and Drug Administration, 12420 Parklawn Dr., Element
Building, Rm. 4141, Rockville, MD 20857, 240-402-4891.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
We are announcing the availability of a guidance for industry
entitled ``Questions and Answers Regarding Mandatory Food Recalls:
Guidance for Industry and FDA Staff.'' We are issuing the guidance
consistent with our good guidance practices regulation (21 CFR 10.115).
The guidance represents the current thinking of FDA on this topic. It
does not establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA
or the public. You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the
requirements of the applicable statutes and regulations. This guidance
is not subject to Executive Order 12866.
FDA's mandatory food recall authority went into effect when FSMA
was enacted on January 4, 2011. Section 423 of the Federal Food, Drug
and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 350l), as added by section 206
of FSMA, gives FDA the authority to order a responsible party to recall
an article of food where FDA determines that there is a reasonable
probability that the article of food (other than infant formula) is
adulterated under section 402 of the FD&C Act (21 U.S.C. 342) or
misbranded under section 403(w) of the FD&C Act (21 U.S.C. 343(w)) and
that the use of or exposure to such article will cause serious adverse
health consequences or death to humans or animals (SAHCODHA). The
guidance provides answers to common questions that might arise about
the mandatory recall provisions and FDA's plans for their
implementation.
In the Federal Register of May 7, 2015 (80 FR 26269), we made
available a draft guidance for industry entitled ``Questions and
Answers Regarding Mandatory Food Recalls; Draft Guidance for Industry''
and gave interested parties an opportunity to submit comments by July
6, 2015, for us to consider before beginning work on the final version
of the guidance. We received several comments on the draft guidance and
have modified the final guidance where appropriate. Changes to the
guidance include: Adding clarity regarding the process FDA will follow
for a mandatory food recall; providing detail regarding the evidence or
circumstances FDA may consider when deciding to move forward with a
mandatory food recall; adding a question that lists examples of
situations when FDA would deem a food product to represent a SAHCODHA
risk; and making editorial changes to improve clarity.
We are removing two questions from the guidance. We are removing
the question about when the mandatory recall provisions go into effect,
as this provision has been in effect since 2011. We are also removing
the question about user fees, as we have not yet issued guidance
associated with these fees and we have previously stated that we do not
intend to issue invoices for mandatory recall order fees until that
guidance has been finalized.
The guidance announced in this notice finalizes the draft guidance
dated May 2015.
II. Electronic Access
Persons with access to the internet may obtain the guidance at
either https://www.fda.gov/FoodGuidances or https://www.regulations.gov. Use the FDA website listed in the previous
sentence to find the most current version of the guidance.
Dated: November 1, 2018.
Leslie Kux,
Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2018-24247 Filed 11-5-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4164-01-P