On March 22, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued official guidelines for the inspection of foodborne microbial hazards, directing FDA inspectors to conduct compliance inspections and enforcement activities under the“Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act”(FD&C) and the U.S. Agricultural“Product Safety Requirement”(PSR). 

The guidelines are applicable to all fruit and vegetable products within the scope of the PSR, except sprouts. The contents include the background of the guidelines, overview of planting field requirements, inspection implementation, priority inspection items, including the priority inspection items of foreign planting fields, product import control, sample collection, laboratory testing, product recall and other non-conformance disposal, report and record requirements, and will be implemented since May 22, 2023.