AFIA Invited to Share Details of SF/SF Program with FDA Officials

Richard Sellers

AFIA President Joel Newman and Vice Presidents Richard Sellers and Keith Epperson will present the latest changes to the Safe Feed/Safe Food (SF/SF) Certification Program to FDA officials next week. This is in concert with FDA’s proposal to recognize industry third-party certification programs. FDA’s April 2nd notice in the Federal Register contains a 60-day comment period for interested parties to provide FDA comments on the agency’s recognition/endorsement of these programs. FDA is also asking how it can encourage more firms to participate in these programs. AFIA is encouraging its members to comment, especially those considering joining the SF/SF program or those with certified facilities.

Following former CVM Director Dr. Stephen Sundlof’s presentation at the AFIA Executive Leadership Summit last fall supporting AFIA’s program, meetings were planned with agency officials to provide a fairly detailed overview of the current plan and planned enhancements. That will take place at CVM next week with CVM and agency senior managers.

AFIA’s Newman said, “We are extremely pleased that after four years of strong efforts by AFIA, FDA is recognizing that this program is ahead of the curve for even the food industry in food safety. We look forward to addressing any concerns the agency has about the program, as we strive to achieve FDA’s endorsement.”

FDA officials have told AFIA that recognition of such programs is part of the long-term goal of FDA, as explained in the agency’s Food Protection Plan (http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/food.html), and the agency is requesting legislation to allow this recognition. However, in the interim, FDA officials said that they would view such programs as risk mitigation factors in determining when to inspect firms and for how long. Participation in the SF/SF program would very likely mean fewer or shorter inspections, as FDA would view certified facilities as low risk facilities.

The SF/SF program was created in 2004 by a full industry effort to “do the right thing.” The program is a risk-based, feed safety promotion program that relies on tracing/tracking of products, hazard analysis and verification. AFIA contracts with the Facility Certification Institute (FCI and www.certifiedfacility.org ) to perform third-party audits. FCI is a non-profit, third-party auditing organization. For more information on the program, visit http://www.afia.org/AFIA/SFSF.aspx . This site also contains a list of all certified facilities—a benefit of the program to certified facilities.

For more information on the SF/SF program contact the SF/SF Administrator, Sharon Henry (shenry@afia.org) or program director, Keith Epperson (kepperson@afia.org).