FDA Issues Final Rule to Protect Food from Intentional Adulteration

On May 27, 2016, FDA finalized its seventh and final food safety rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which will become new 21 C.F.R. Part 121. The Intentional Adulteration rule establishes requirements to help protect food against adulteration from acts intended to cause wide-scale harm to public health, including acts of terrorism. For the first time, domestic and foreign food facilities will be required to complete and maintain written food defense plans assessing their potential vulnerabilities to deliberate contamination where the intent is to cause wide-scale public health harm.