Warehouse group seeks partial
exemption from new food safety rule
The International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA)
on July 22 petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to exempt facilities that are “solely
engaged in the storage of packaged foods that are not
exposed to the environment” from compliance with Section
418 of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act.
That provision requires food storage facilities to conduct
hazard analyses and specifies a host of preventive controls
to address such hazards as food contamination, adulteration, and deterioration. The petition was jointly submitted
by IWLA, a trade group representing third-party warehouse
operators, and seven other associations representing food
manufacturers and the grocery industry.
The associations argued that applying Section 418 to warehouses that store only packaged foods would impose unnecessary costs and administrative burdens with no public
health benefit. Such facilities already comply with ware-house-specific food safety practices mandated under 21 CFR
§110.93, they said. Furthermore, most of the potential hazards and preventive controls specified in Section 418 are
go figure …
6.3%
The amount by which 120 leading shippers surveyed by Wolfe, Trahan & Co. expect to increase
their transportation budgets over the next 12
months to cover rising shipping costs, including
fuel surcharges.
SOURCE: WOLFE, TRAHAN & CO.
appropriate for manufacturing and packaging operations
but are not relevant to already packaged foods, they argued.
The groups asked FDA to modify Section 418 so that warehouses storing only packaged foods would satisfy that provision through compliance with 21 CFR §110.93.
Applying Section 418 to facilities that only handle packaged food would raise costs for those operators and ultimately for their customers and consumers, the groups said.
“Certainly, [FDA and industry] resources would be put to
better use in controlling the risks that arise before the product leaves the manufacturing facility,” they wrote. ;
OD•DOMESTIC
OD•EXPEDITED
OD•PEOPLE
OD•GLOBAL
OD•TECHNOLOGY
HELPING THE WORLD KEEP PROMISES. ™
© 2011 Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. All rights reserved. Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., the Old Dominion logo and Helping the world keep promises. are trademarks or registered trademarks of Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.
