US Importers Comply with Food Safety Rules

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Small US businesses importing food for human consumption have until September to comply with new US food safety rules.

By Dan Shryock

A federal law taking effect this year in the United States requires US importers, including those in the coffee and tea industries, to monitor their overseas suppliers and help protect Americans from foodborne illnesses traceable to raw food products.

The law, called the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), calls on the food supply chain to take a transparent, preventative approach to product monitoring. Coffee and tea importers now are responsible for making sure their foreign suppliers have sufficient, documented food safety controls in the countries of origin and all stops along the way before green beans and processed leaves arrive at US ports.

The new measures became law in 2011 but began taking effect in 2017.

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FSMA Basics

Importers contacted for this article say the new requirements have not created significant problems for them and their suppliers.

“The US Food and Drug Administration [FDA] is moving into a more preventative direction,” said Bracey Parr, a regulatory specialist for Registrar Corp and an expert on the law. “They’ve adopted an ‘ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ philosophy.”

The law was written with scheduled deadlines designed to allow both importers and their overseas suppliers to ramp up their compliance. It started with a softer, educational approach before the law was enforced, Parr said. Even after FSMA takes full effect, he expects FDA to work with companies rather than punish them for non-compliance.

Deadlines are phased in based on each importer’s criteria or the foreign supplier’s related deadline as determined by FSMA’s preventive controls rule for food processors. Importers whose suppliers have more than 500 full-time employees saw their compliance deadline arrive on May 30.  Importers whose suppliers have fewer than 500 employees have until March 19, 2018, to comply. Finally, importers whose exporters are even smaller have until March 2019.

In each instance, the preventive controls rule deadline is extended six months after the foreign supplier’s deadline if that is later.

“I don’t anticipate the FDA coming down hard on anyone,” Parr said. “The biggest thing is filing (import) entries at customs. The burden is on the paperwork to get the shipments in.”

To be in compliance, exporters must analyze their products for possible hazards, provide product histories and other relevant information and pass that on to importers. The importers then must have a plan to make sure each foreign facility is following FDA regulations and that their documents are accurate.

“That’s because the exporter needs to be in compliance first,” Parr said.

In the end, imported food must be as safe as domestic products, according to the FDA.

“The FDA can only inspect about 1% of imported food so they’re putting the onus on importers,” Parr said. And while new laws requiring additional documentation may add workload, many importers prepared for the change by working with their suppliers.

“We have been prepping our suppliers as soon as this law came into effect in 2011. We have been sending them forms and doing document audits every year,” said Sherine Kanagasunderam, quality assurance manager for QTrade Teas & Herbs in Cerritos, Calif.

Under the law, the FDA is required to implement new food safety regulations that focus on proactive measures to prevent the potential for contamination of food across the supply chain. All food facilities that are affected by FSMA must institute hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls (HARPC) and use “science-based preventive control measures to reduce the risk of food contami­nation,” according to the FDA.

“There are two parts of the act,” said Parr, who has actively advised the coffee industry on the law and its impacts. “HARPC is an update to HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). There’s a big integration of scientific literature and knowledge about food safety especially looking at the supply chain. It’s really important that there’s transparency in the supply chain to make sure foreign supplies are living up to the requirements.”

The process begins with the foreign supplier verification program (FSVP) that requires importers in the United States to make sure suppliers are providing the same level of health protection as domestic suppliers and that they are complying with regulations.

“Importers have to take a good, hard look at the supply chain,” Parr said. “What is the inherent hazard associated with the food? What is the supplier’s history or rap sheet, so to speak, with the FDA? Everything FDA is risk based.

“You have to go out and verify that all hazards are addressed at the foreign facility,” Parr said. “Then the importer has to verify (that any issues are being addressed).”

Impact on the coffee importers

“Any coffee facility that’s registered (as an importer) needs to look at their food documentation and make sure it meets HARPC standards – packing size, aggregators, decaffeination plants. Everyone needs to do an analysis,” Parr said. “If the FDA inspects, they want to see that you’ve done the work to make sure you’re exempt.”

Generally, coffee hazards are controlled in the roasting process but pesticide residues can be a problem, Parr said. Then there are physical hazards such as dirt, pebbles and other impurities among the green beans.

“If the facility doesn’t have the ability (to remove physical hazards), they have to make it clear in their plan that hazards will be controlled down the way,” Parr said. “The law is pretty flexible in that regard. They just want to see that you’ve done the work and it would need to be explicitly written in both (the export and import) plans.”

Impact on tea importers

Tea importers face the same requirements. While most coffee food safety concerns are ultimately eliminated in the heat of a roaster, processed tea leaves remain susceptible and require a close eye. Two importers contacted for this article report exporters are prepared to meet US government expectations.

“I understand the atmosphere in the industry is probably (that) the US importers are concerned about their regular suppliers in terms of compliance and the exporters are panicking about the rules or regulation. I thought about the same, actually,” said Shengyuan Chen, executive director of Firsd Tea North America, LLC. “But after I talked to several people in China, the reality is much better than I thought. There are very few tea factories in China that are not certified by food safety systems, so for them, what FSMA and FSVP require is probably a bit more documentation work.

“For those who are not certified by third-party auditors, I can’t speak for them and I don’t think they are all unqualified, but as long as they keep a track of each step they do truthfully, they will still be considered as compliant,” she said.

Zheijing Trading Co., parent company to Firsd Tea, exports more than 115 million pounds of tea each year from China. Firsd Tea imports another 450,000 pounds a year from other Chinese suppliers. And whether the tea comes from the parent company or an outside source, the expectations for Firsd Tea remain the same.

“No one’s nervous about this,” Chen said. “They all have everything in place. It’s just a bit more documentation. The other companies are doing a very good job. They are all sending what we want.”

Chen explained that the FDA wants to know how the tea is produced before exportation. “And once the tea lands in the US we don’t have to do any further processing. If something happens, we would know where the problem occurred.”

QTrade Teas & Herbs imported approximately 5.2 million pounds of tea blends and another 1.7 million pounds of herbs last year. Teas arrived from throughout Asia while the herbs arrived from all over the world, according to Kanagasunderam. Throughout the year, QTrade reviewed its FSMA compliance for accuracy.

“We started this in 2011 [after the law was passed],” Kanagasunderam said. “Many [exporters] weren’t ready then.”

They are now, she said.

“FSMA changed the way people think about food safety. We have federal regulations on good manufacturing practices in food production but it did not address other food safety issues. With FSMA, all foods are covered and manufacturers and importers have a clear understanding on what is required and expected.  When the requirements are streamlined, it is easy to follow,” Kanagasunderam said. “I think this is good because it gives us the opportunity to analyze our programs more closely and see how we can give our customers safe, quality products. QTrade is supportive of any kind of regulation that keeps the food safe.”

Chen sees importers as the gatekeepers charged with providing transparency in the tea supply chain.

“From what I see, the burden is more on the importers’ side because it’s for them to verify if the information they get is correct and truthful,” Chen said. “I don’t want to rule out the possibility that there are factories who are not in compliance.

“Perhaps they chose to do so because it will lower their operation cost and in other words, they are able to offer better pricing on certain products,” she said. “But again, it’s up to the importers they want to work with. Big companies naturally offer better quality assurance but when it comes to price, they don’t always have the advantage. I think FSMA helps to regulate the market and will be beneficial for big players.”