The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires all registered food facilities to renew their registration between October 1 and December 31 of each even-numbered year. The requirement applies to both domestic and foreign food facilities. If you fail to renew your registration, FDA considers the registration expired and will remove it from the account. Food facilities that sell food without a valid registration can be subject to civil or criminal penalties.
If you don’t make the food product yourself, but utilize the services of a co-packer, co-manufacturer, private label distributor or a supplier, then you may want to confirm they are in the process of renewing their registration with the renewal period. If they don’t renew their registration on time, it could lead to production delays for you. For imported ingredients, they will not be able to enter the U.S. without a valid facility registration number.
If you need assistance with registering your food facility with FDA, please contact us at Morsel Law for assistance.