Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals

Penn State Extension is helping produce growers, food processors, and feed manufacturers prepare for new regulatory standards required under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) of 2011.

The Foreign Supplier Verification Programs Rule for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals requires that importers perform certain risk-based activities to verify that food imported into the United States has been produced in a manner that meets applicable U.S. food safety standards. This rule does not apply to the exporters in other countries.

A Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) is a program that importers covered by the rule must have in place to verify that their foreign suppliers are producing food in a manner that provides the same level of public health protection as the preventive controls or produce safety regulations, as appropriate, and to ensure that the supplier's food is not adulterated and is not misbranded with respect to allergen labeling.

The foreign supplier of a food is the establishment that manufactures/processes the food, raises the animal, or grows the food that is exported to the United States without further manufacturing/processing by another establishment, except for further manufacturing/processing that consists solely of the addition of labeling or any similar activity of a de minimis nature.

For example, if you obtain apples from a packinghouse that only packs and holds the fruit (and does not perform manufacturing/processing on the apples of more than a de minimis nature), the foreign supplier would be the farms that grew the apples.

If applicable, an importer must establish a FSVP for each food that is imported from each of its foreign suppliers. The importer may FSVP FSVP FSVP request information from their foreign suppliers or others to meet the FSVP requirements.

For more information, please vis it the Penn State Extension FSMA section.

This program was developed by Food Safety CTS, LLC, for the USDA Food Safety and Agricultural Sustainability Training program and Penn State Extension.