On June 29, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and Office of Food Policy and Response (OFPR) released a list of draft and final guidance topics that are a priority for the FDA Foods Program to complete during the next 12 months.

The agency anticipates it will publish many of these documents by June 2022. The list focuses on Level 1 draft and final guidances.

The FDA is taking this action to provide stakeholders increased transparency and additional insights into the foods program priorities. Guidance documents represent the FDA’s current thinking on a specific topic and the information can help stakeholders plan for potential changes that may impact their businesses and organizations. They do not impose legally enforceable requirements.

Although the FDA's intent is to publish all draft and final guidance topics on the list, modifications in plans may be needed to support emerging issues and Administration priorities.

In the future, the FDA intends to release the list of anticipated human food and cosmetic guidance topics at the beginning of each calendar year with updates scheduled for mid-year. The list released today will be updated by the end of January 2022.

Public comments on the list, including suggestions for alternatives or recommendations on the topics FDA is considering, can be submitted to www.regulations.gov, using Docket ID: FDA-2021-N-0553.

The FDA’s list of guidance topics is just one of several resources that the foods program routinely shares with stakeholders and partners to help inform them of agency priorities. Most proposed and final rules are tracked collectively and are on the “Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions,” which is published by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget. The Unified Agenda is updated twice a year and reports planned actions by federal departments and agencies government-wide.