How does the Reportable Food Registry Work?

When any facility that produces or provides food learns of a potentially harmful food in commerce, a party responsible for that facility is required to log in to the RFR's Safety Reporting Portal and file an accurate report within 24 hours. This is the "primary report."

A key issue is how a responsible party should handle a conflicting test result. That is, when a responsible party initially receives a positive microbiological test result, thus triggering the reporting requirements, but then obtains a negative result after retesting. Because there are a number of reasons why a food may test positive and then negative, FDA encourages responsible parties to report in all cases.

As noted in the RFR, reporting requirements are not triggered when certain criteria are met, including when the responsible party detects the adulteration prior to any transfer of the affected food to another person. FDA further explains in the RFR guidance that a "transfer" occurs when the responsible parties release the food to a third party. FDA states that an "intra-company transfer in a vertically integrated company" is not considered a transfer.