FDA Issues 2022 Food Code

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued the 2022 edition of the FDA Food Code, which provides guidance to state and local authorities and retailers to help mitigate foodborne illness risks at retail and provide a uniform set of national standards for retail food safety.

The Food Code represents the FDA’s best advice for a uniform system of provisions that address the safety and protection of food offered at retail and in food service, and while it is a model code that is not required, it has been widely adopted by state, local, tribal and territorial agencies that regulate more than one million restaurants, retail food stores, vending operations and food service operations in schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and childcare centers.

A summary of changes is available.

Complete and widespread adoption of the 2022 Food Code as statutes, codes, and ordinances helps:

• Reduce foodborne illness risk within food establishments, protecting consumers and industry from potentially devastating health consequences/financial losses;
• Create uniform standards for retail food safety that reduce complexity and better ensure compliance;
• Eliminate redundant processes for establishing food safety criteria; and
• Establish a more standardized approach to inspections and audits of food establishments

Jurisdictions looking to adopt the most recent editions of the Food Code can find support in our Food Code Adoption Toolkit.