FDA adds further security measure to food export certificates

From 29 June 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Certificate to a Foreign Government and Certificate of Exportability for human food products will include a unique QR code to simplify authenticity checks.

This added security measure will mean that anyone who receives a certificate from a US exporter can scan the QR code and view a copy of the FDA issued certificate.

The hope is that this will accelerate the verification process of FDA-issued export certificates. The current system requires a stakeholder to create an account, contact the FDA to activate it, and then log in to verify the authenticity of certificates.

The FDA is asking importing countries continue to honour and accept any certificates issued with the previous format, through their expiration dates.

Review of a certificate may be required by foreign countries as part of the process to import a product into those countries. The FDA issues certain export certificates for some CFSAN-regulated food products upon request from industry. The FDA does not require export certificates to export foods to foreign countries.

The FDA is also updating the format of these certificates to streamline the display of certificate data. To learn more click here.