FDA offers free training for Sanitary Transportation Rule

The FDA has announced a set of free online training tools for ground-based food transporters. These new training modules are intended to help carriers meet the requirements of the FDA’s Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food Rule (Sanitary Transportation Rule), which is part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

This rule requires rail and motor vehicle carriers to provide food safety training to personnel engaged in transportation operations.

That training must make those workers aware of:

1. Potential food safety problems
2. Basic sanitary practices
3. Carrier responsibilities.

The carrier training requirement applies when the shipper and carrier have agreed, in a written contract, that the carrier is responsible, in whole or part, for sanitary conditions during transportation operations.

A carrier can use this free training as a means of satisfying the training requirements of the Sanitary Transportation Rule or to complement their other training. Carriers can also choose to train their own personnel or acquire training through a third-party vendor. The training is available on FDA’s website.

Organizations that use their own learning management system can download and import the course files. This allows administrators to track completion data automatically in their systems.

Individuals who complete the online module will be able to generate a certificate of completion from the website. Carriers subject to the training requirements must establish and maintain records documenting the training of operations personnel, which they may be asked to provide to FDA upon request.

The first compliance date for businesses covered by the Sanitary Transportation rule was April 6, 2017. The compliance date for small businesses covered by the rule is April 6, 2018.

More information regarding the Sanitary Transportation Rule, and other FSMA  provisions, is available at FDA.gov.