The Food and Drug Administration issued two new interim final rules to address food safety that will both take effect on July 3, the agency said today in a statement.

The first rule allows the FDA to detain food products it believes may be contaminated or mislabeled for up to 30 days, during which time they would not be sold. This period allows the agency to decide whether an enforcement action is necessary. Under current regulation, the FDA must have evidence for its belief that the food could cause serious harm before it can detain an item.

The second rule requires everyone who imports food into the United States to report to the FDA on whether another country has rejected the same product. This also holds for food for animals. The reports will be processed using the prior notice system for incoming shipments of imported food.

This represents the first time that the FDA is exercising its authority to implement these changes, that was afforded by the Food Safety Modernization Act, signed by President Obama in January. “These rules will be followed later this year and next year by a series of proposed rules for both domestic and imported food that will help the FDA continue building the new food safety system called for by Congress,” said Deputy Commissioner for Foods Mike Taylor in the document.

Comments will be accepted for 90 days after they are published in the Federal Register.

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