The Food and Drug Administration excluded food packaging and other food contact materials from its bioterrorism regulations issued 10th October. This is good news for the food packaging industry. Originally, the regulations would have required the registration of all facilities involved in the manufacture, packaging, or distribution of "food" as well as notification to FDA prior to the import of any food product. Because of the broad manner in which food was defined in the proposed regulations, food contact substances, were included within the scope of the regulations. As released in amended form on October 10, however, FDA's regulations on facility registration and import notification now exempt all materials and articles defined as "food-contact substances" under the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act, thus avoiding significant costs to the industry.
