FDA Facility Registration Renewal

The official time for facility renewal with FDA this year is today Oct. 22, 2012, starting from 12.01 AM.

This is a little later than the expected date fixed for the first time this new rule applied.

Just for the industry understand the rule, a FAQ has been prepared and posted on FDA website (http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FSMA/ucm314178.htm#new). For facilities already registered additional information is needed, such as email of the facility head, the US agent, his guarantee that the FDA can inspect his / her facility should it be necessary as decided by FDA.

Last but not least, the renewal is quite free and you can do it yourselves online (www.fda.gov/furls), the preferred one encouraged by FDA. If you have other reasons not to use online service, you can have other options such as submitting by paper or CD disk, using the form 3537.

Third party agents can be hired to do the work and be aware that you should pay them some service fee which is not the fee charged by FDA. FDA's FAQ item No. IC.3.11 (Do I have to use a third-party registrar for the initial, update, renewal or cancellation of registration for my food facility?) explains clearly this matter, so you can refer to for your information.