The regulatory and legislative outlook for Food Safety and Nutrition is, compared to other more contentious and politicized issues, fairly robust for the next two years. At the federal agencies, there will be continued activity on implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act, along with other food safety and food additive rulemakings. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory agenda can be found here. On Capitol Hill, food safety legislation will be a priority, along with efforts to reauthorize child nutrition programs before they expire later this year.

REGULATORY OUTLOOK -

Food Safety Modernization Act Implementation: The FDA will finalize five of the seven major Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules by the end of 2015. It will complete the rules for preventive controls for human food and preventive controls for animal food by August 30, 2015, and the rules for produce safety, third-party accreditation, and foreign supplier verification program by October 31, 2015. The FDA will finalize a rule related to sanitary transportation by March 31, 2016, and a rule related to intentional adulteration by May 31, 2016.