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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Registration of Food Facilities

April 7, 2008

Compliance Information: Registration

The Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (Bioterrorism Act), section 305, added section 415 to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which requires domestic and foreign facilities to register with FDA by December 12, 2003, if they manufacture, process, pack, or hold food for human or animal consumption in the U.S. The purpose of registration is to provide FDA with sufficient and reliable information about food and feed facilities. When used with the administrative detention, recordkeeping, and prior notice provisions in sections 303, 306, and 307, respectively, of the Bioterrorism Act, registration helps provide FDA with information on the origin and distribution of food and feed products and thereby aid in the detection and quick response to actual or potential threats to the U.S. food supply. Registration information also helps FDA to notify facilities that may be affected by the actual or potential threat.

In November, 2004, FDA issued an updated Compliance Policy Guide (CPG) to replace the previous version issued in December, 2003. The updated CPG provides guidance on the agency's strategy for enforcing and achieving compliance with the registration interim final rule. The CPG states that if FDA, or a state agency acting on its behalf, determines that a domestic facility required to register has not registered, or failed to update mandatory elements of the registration, the investigator should note this failure in the establishment inspection report and bring such failure to the attention of the District Compliance Branch. The CPG further states that the field investigator should advise the facility's management of the requirement and provide the facility with a copy of FDA's booklet (dated November 2003), "What You Need to Know About Registration of Food Facilities," which includes the website for electronic registration (www.access.fda.gov) and the address of the FDA office from which a paper copy of the registration form (Form 3537) may be obtained.

The updated CPG states that after November 8, 2004, FDA will enforce the registration provision as appropriate in each situation regarding domestic facilities. Circumstances which could merit regulatory action include a continuing failure to register, and a threat on the food supply that poses a threat of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals. In addition, FDA may also consider the failure to register as an additional charge in an enforcement action that is based on other statutory violations.

For foreign facilities, FDA generally intends to enforce the registration requirement in accordance with the policies set out in CPG 110.310, "Prior Notice of Imported Food Under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Response Act of 2002" (revised November, 2005).

In the preamble to the Registration Final Rule (68 FR 58894 (Oct. 10, 2003), as affirmed by 70 FR 57505 (Oct. 3, 2005)), FDA estimates that the total number of food facilities that must register with FDA is approximately 420,000, approximately half of which are domestic. As of April 7, 2008, FDA had received 347,107 registrations, of which 202,995 are foreign facilities and 144,112 are domestic facilities. The following graph shows the rate of these registrations by date:

Food Registrations -
Graph of foreign, domestic, and total food registrations versus date.

FDA has received an estimated 6,677 more registrations since we issued the previous compliance summary information guide on January 29, 2008. FDA will continue to ensure that all facilities required to register have done so.

The table below shows a country-by-country breakdown of the number of registrations per country (listed in alphabetical order) as of April 7, 2008:

Registrations By Country
Country NameNumber of Registrations
AFGHANISTAN 20
ALBANIA 74
ALGERIA 29
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 17
ARGENTINA 3302
ARMENIA 136
ARUBA 18
AUSTRALIA 3945
AUSTRIA 899
AZERBAIJAN 59
BAHAMAS 71
BAHRAIN 13
BANGLADESH 279
BARBADOS 69
BELARUS 75
BELGIUM 1108
BELIZE 67
BERMUDA 15
BOLIVIA 297
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOWINA 86
BRAZIL 4103
BULGARIA 521
BURKINA FASO 18
BURUNDI 19
CAMBODIA 22
CAMEROON 56
CANADA 13800
CAPE VERDE 16
CAYMAN ISLANDS 17
CHILE 3787
CHINA 19151
COLOMBIA 2981
COMOROS 13
CONGO 10
CONGO (THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF) 18
COOK ISLANDS 10
COSTA RICA 1448
CROATIA 140
CYPRUS 101
CZECH REPUBLIC 317
DENMARK 553
DOMINICA 35
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 863
ECUADOR 4031
EGYPT 475
EL SALVADOR 812
ESTONIA 91
ETHIOPIA 323
FAROE ISLANDS 30
FIJI 183
FINLAND 217
FRANCE 12669
FRENCH POLYNESIA 62
GAMBIA 14
GEORGIA 144
GERMANY 3717
GHANA 406
GREECE 1033
GREENLAND 29
GRENADA 33
GUADELOUPE 18
GUATEMALA 1225
GUINEA 166
GUYANA 306
HAITI 109
HONDURAS 974
HONG KONG, CHINA 2263
HUNGARY 519
ICELAND 312
INDIA 4708
INDONESIA 1758
IRAN (ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF) 321
IRELAND 439
ISRAEL 1302
ITALY 13188
IVORY COAST 290
JAMAICA 500
JAPAN 22336
JORDAN 153
KAZAKHSTAN 20
KENYA 336
KOREA, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC 33
KOREA, REPUBLIC OF 5368
KUWAIT 56
LAO PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC 24
LATVIA 127
LEBANON 304
LIBERIA 45
LITHUANIA 220
LUXEMBOURG 42
MACAU, CHINA 21
MACEDONIA 120
MADAGASCAR 119
MALAWI 55
MALAYSIA 1521
MALDIVES 45
MALI 19
MALTA 22
MARTINIQUE 21
MAURITANIA 28
MAURITIUS 58
MEXICO 15192
MOLDOVA 103
MONACO 16
MONGOLIA 13
MOROCCO 379
MOZAMBIQUE 69
NAMIBIA 56
NEPAL 40
NETHERLANDS 1472
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES 32
NEW CALEDONIA 13
NEW ZEALAND 2355
NICARAGUA 586
NIGERIA 334
NORWAY 697
OMAN 33
PAKISTAN 488
PANAMA 611
PAPUA NEW GUINEA 124
PARAGUAY 164
PERU 2704
PHILIPPINES 1425
POLAND 1421
PORTUGAL 1106
REUNION 23
ROMANIA 181
RUSSIAN FEDERATION 1666
RWANDA 59
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 18
SAINT LUCIA 29
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 37
SAMOA 25
SAUDI ARABIA 124
SENEGAL 99
SERBIA 41
SEYCHELLES 10
SIERRA LEONE 26
SINGAPORE 696
SLOVAKIA (Slovak Republic) 96
SLOVENIA 135
SOLOMON ISLANDS 17
SOUTH AFRICA 1612
SPAIN 5455
SRI LANKA 650
SUDAN 17
SURINAME 30
SWAZILAND 10
SWEDEN 377
SWITZERLAND 955
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC 202
TAIWAN (CHINA) 2767
TANZANIA 108
THAILAND 2803
TOGO 28
TONGA 53
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 255
TUNISIA 148
TURKEY 1417
TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS 13
UGANDA 98
UKRAINE 734
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 302
UNITED KINGDOM 3321
UNITED STATES 144111
URUGUAY 398
UZBEKISTAN 36
VANUATU 15
VENEZUELA 470
VIET NAM 5232
VIRGIN ISLANDS (BRITISH) 31
YEMEN 35
YUGOSLAVIA 202
ZAMBIA 14
ZIMBABWE 40
Total Registrations 347107[1]

The table below shows a state-by-state breakdown of the number of registrations (listed in alphabetical order) as of April 7, 2008:

Domestic Registrations by State
State NameState IdNumber of Registrations
ALABAMA AL 1726
ALASKA AK 550
AMERICAN SAMOA AS 11
ARIZONA AZ 2034
ARKANSAS AR 1431
CALIFORNIA CA 20605
COLORADO CO 2035
CONNECTICUT CT 1101
DELAWARE DE 304
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DC 219
FLORIDA FL 8616
GEORGIA GA 3584
GUAM GU 54
HAWAII HI 964
IDAHO ID 1075
ILLINOIS IL 6089
INDIANA IN 2299
IOWA IA 4261
KANSAS KS 2013
KENTUCKY KY 1902
LOUISIANA LA 1862
MAINE ME 1019
MARYLAND MD 2074
MASSACHUSETTS MA 2803
MICHIGAN MI 3266
MINNESOTA MN 2991
MISSISSIPPI MS 1123
MISSOURI MO 2742
MONTANA MT 836
NEBRASKA NE 1617
NEVADA NV 746
NEW HAMPSHIRE NH 544
NEW JERSEY NJ 5250
NEW MEXICO NM 878
NEW YORK NY 9244
NORTH CAROLINA NC 2995
NORTH DAKOTA ND 949
NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS MP 15
OHIO OH 4306
OKLAHOMA OK 1533
OREGON OR 2663
PENNSYLVANIA PA 5066
PUERTO RICO PR 923
RHODE ISLAND RI 447
SOUTH CAROLINA SC 1476
SOUTH DAKOTA SD 713
TENNESSEE TN 2266
TEXAS TX 9359
UTAH UT 930
VERMONT VT 521
VIRGINIA VA 2849
VIRGIN ISLANDS VI 44
WASHINGTON WA 4799
WEST VIRGINIA WV 623
WISCONSIN WI 3400
WYOMING WY 358
Total Registrations 144112[2]

 


[1] Under the Bioterrorism Act, the following are not subject to disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552 (the Freedom of Information Act): FDA's list of specific registered facilities, documents submitted under the registration requirement, and any information derived from such list or registration documents that would disclose the identity or location of a specific registered facility. Thus, to protect the identity of registered facilities, FDA has eliminated from the above list countries from which FDA has received less than ten registrations. However, the number of total registrations reflects all registrations FDA has received.

[2] Under the Bioterrorism Act, the following are not subject to disclosure under 5 U.S.C. 552 (the Freedom of Information Act): FDA's list of specific registered facilities, documents submitted under the registration requirement, and any information derived from such list or registration documents that would disclose the identity or location of a specific registered facility. Thus, to protect the identity of registered facilities, FDA has eliminated from the above list states from which FDA has received less than ten registrations. However, the number of total registrations reflects all registrations FDA has received.


November 2005: Compliance Policy Guide - Prior Notice of Imported Food Under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002

November 2003: Booklet (SECG): What You Need to Know About Registration of Food Facilities

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