FDAImports.com Founder and CEO, Benjamin England, will present and moderate at the “FSVP and VQIP: Mandatory and Voluntary” panel discussion at the 2013 Food Week event put on by the Washington DC-based Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI).  The session will examine the Foreign Supplier Verification Program and Voluntary Qualified Importer Program under the Food Safety Modernization Act and address:
Compliance with these two programs

The differences and overlap between the two programs

The relevance of facility certification by third parties

Impending tensions between importers and foreign suppliers

How HARPC … READ MORE

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 Hungry for more?  Enjoy our 2011 holiday campaign, “Santa vs. FDA”

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The 2012 elections are over!  Celebrate or mourn. But either way, it’s now time to expect some stability and action as the sideshow comes to an end.  As we predicted over the summer FDA did not release any of its new FSMA regulations before the election. In fact, the regulations are still jammed up at the Office of Budget and Management (OMB).  Here are some predictions now that we know where we’re headed under the Obama administration.

FSMA
Expect the current regulations to be released from OMB in coming weeks.  In fact, we have … READ MORE

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Ben England, Founder and CEO of FDAImports.com, will present at American Conference Institute’s FDA & USDA Compliance Boot Camp on Wednesday, October 3rd in Chicago, Illinois.  The FDA & USDA boot camp is a gathering of in-house counsel, compliance and government affairs executives and private practice lawyers and provides two days of detailed seminars and workshops on topics important to the food, beverage, poultry, meat and dairy industries.

Mr. England will be joined by Odalys Perez Dines, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary for Mitsui Foods, Inc., a global food enterprise with over 50 years of high-quality food sourcing … READ MORE

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It’s that time of year again… Time for another FSMA deadline! The pressure is on for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to meet yet another critical date with multiple deadlines imposed by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).  Every 6 months a deadline rolls around and every 6 months FDA has stumbled past it with varying degrees of success in delivering what Congress instructed.  This July 4th is another such deadline with multiple important FSMA items due.  Whereas it might be expected to stir up some panic … READ MORE

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FDAImports.com Founder and CEO, Benjamin England, recently spoke at the Food and Drug Law Institute’s Annual Conference on the Food Safety Modernization Act and imports.  During the presentation, “How FSMA Changed the Game on Imports,” Mr. England discussed, along with leading FDA lawyers and industry and FDA officials, elements related to FSMA affecting imported foods and international trade, including the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP), the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP), various challenges to the international supply … READ MORE

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In a recently updated Q/A section on the FDA’s FSMA web page, FDA attempts to clarify the impact of FSMA upon “High-Risk” food facilities.  Essentially, FDA plans to utilize a database to identify the world’s High Risk Facilities and inspect them all every 3 years. Also FDA plans to inspect the world’s Non High-Risk facilities every 5 years.  According to FDA, there are currently 22,325 domestic facilities classified as HR. That designation was arrived at by application of the following criteria:

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Benjamin England, Founder and CEO of FDAImports.com recently presented at the 2012 Journal of Commerce Cool Cargoes Event entitled “Planning an FDA-Proof International Container Cold Chain.”  The Cool Cargoes track is part of the JOC’s annual TPM conference (Trans-Pacific Maritime). Mr. England’s presentation answered the following core questions:

   • How will FSMA impact cold chains?

   • What is the legal impact of FSMA?

   • What new fees should I be concerned about under FSMA?

   • What is VQIP and FSVP and how will they … READ MORE

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