FDA has finalized a new food safety rule under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that will help to prevent food contamination during transportation. The rule will require those involved in transporting human and animal food by motor or rail vehicle to follow recognized best practices for sanitary transportation, such as properly refrigerating food, adequately cleaning vehicles between loads and properly protecting food during transportation.

The action is part of a larger effort to focus on prevention of food safety problems throughout the food chain, and the rule implements the Sanitary Food Transportation Act of 2005 (SFTA) as well as the requirement in section 111 of FSMA that instructed FDA to issue SFTA regulations.

“Consumers deserve a safe food supply and this final rule will help to ensure that all those involved in the farm-to-fork continuum are doing their part to ensure that the food products that arrive in our grocery stores are safe to eat,” says Michael Taylor, FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.

FDA has finalized six of the seven major rules that implement the core of FSMA. Signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2011, FSMA is a sweeping reform of the nation’s food safety laws. These changes are built upon a foundation of seven new major rules that aim to ensure the US food supply is safe by shifting focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. The first two rules were finalized and submitted by FDA to the Federal Register in September.