Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took a step towards ensuring the accuracy of its inventory of importers responsible for meeting the requirements of the Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) rule.
The FDA issued guidance formally recognizing the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number as an acceptable unique facility identifier (UFI) for FSVP. The identification of importers will help the FDA effectively implement, monitor compliance with, and enforce the FSVP requirements, which are designed to help ensure that imported foods meet U.S. safety standards.
The final FSVP rule, mandated by the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), requires that an importer provide its legal business name, electronic mailing address, and UFI recognized as acceptable by the FDA for each line entry of food product offered for importation into the United States. In the preamble to the final rule, FDA stated that it anticipated issuing guidance specifying which UFI(s) we recognize as acceptable and that we expected to recognize DUNS numbers as acceptable.
The DUNS number, assigned and managed by Dun & Bradstreet, is available free of charge to importers. It can be obtained by contacting D&B by phone at 866-705-5711, via email at govt@dnb.com, by visiting D&B’s Website or fdadunslookup.com.
The first compliance date for importers subject to the FSVP rule is May 30, 2017.
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