Elizabeth Fawell and Steven Steinborn, Hogan Lovells US LLP
On January 4, 2011, President Barack Obama signed into law historic food safety legislation--the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The law has two major themes: prevention and accountability. Prevention means that food companies need to have controls in place during manufacturing to assure the safety of their products and to prevent problems (not just react to them after-the-fact). Accountability means that food companies are accountable to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help ensure that not only their own facilities, but also their suppliers, are making safe food.