FDA Announces New Food Facility US Agent Listing and Verification System

FDA recently announced the creation of its online system for U.S. agents of registered food facilities. The agency’s U.S. Agent Voluntary Identification System, unveiled in a guidance document issued Oct. 16, will allow U.S. agents to identify the facilities for which they agree to serve as agents, and streamline the U.S. agent verification process for food facility registration.

“The VIS allows a U.S. agent to directly provide FDA with their contact information and the name of the facility or facilities for which the agent agrees to serve,” FDA said in the guidance document. “FDA will then provide the U.S. agent with an identification number that the agent can provide to the facilities that the U.S. agent agrees to represent. Foreign food facilities now have the option of providing the identification number of their U.S. agent during registration,” it said.

VIS has been in the works since at least 2016 (see 1607130018), amid concerns that food facilities were designating U.S. agents without their knowledge and subjecting them to increased liability (see 12101902). FDA says the new system will give U.S. agents access to a direct list of facilities that identify them as such, limiting the number of unauthorized or fraudulent listings.

The system, which is not mandatory, also “provides a streamlined U.S. agent verification process,” FDA said. “When a foreign facility uses a U.S. agent identification number in accordance with the VIS and the name of the facility matches the facility name the U.S. agent has identified, FDA will consider that verification and will provide the facility with a registration number without taking any additional steps to verify the U.S. agent,” the agency said.

U.S. agents that wish to use the system would enter their information in VIS, including name, address, phone number, email address and emergency contact number. U.S. agents would also have the option to provide the name and address of the facilities for which the agent agrees to serve.

The U.S agent would then get an identification number they could provide to the foreign food facilities they represent. “FDA will not confirm a foreign facility’s registration or provide a registration number until the U.S. agent has confirmed that the agent has agreed to serve as the U.S. agent. If he U.S. agent identification number and the information that the U.S. agent provides about the facility in VIS match, FDA will consider the use of the identification number as a verification,” it said.

When the foreign facility registration confirmation is sent to the facility, the U.S. agent would also be notified. “Although we consider the use by a foreign facility of a U.S. agent identification number to be confirmation that the U.S. agent agrees to serve in that capacity for that foreign facility when a facility name matches a facility name the U.S. agent has identified, U.S. agents can nevertheless reject the assignment via the VIS or contact FDA in the event the U.S. agent is falsely identified in a food facility registration,” FDA said. “If the U.S. agent does not agree to serve or declines the assignment, FDA will notify the foreign facility that they will need to identify a valid U.S. agent within 30 days for the registration to be confirmed.”