• On December 28, 2022, FDA issued the 2022 edition of the Food Code. The FDA Food Code represents FDA’s best advice to address the safety and protection of food offered at retail and in food service, and is intended to be a model for adoption by state, local, tribal, and territorial regulatory bodies.

• The last update to the Food Code was in 2017 and typically the Food Code is updated on a four-year cycle. However, FDA weighs retail food stakeholder input through the Conference for Food Protection and, in this cycle, the conference was pushed back to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, FDA adjusted the Food Code release by a year. The next edition will be published in four years (2026).

• The changes to the Food Code include:

  • The addition of provisions relating to food donation, clarifying that food which is stored, prepared, packaged, displayed, and labeled according to the code’s safety provisions can be donated.

  • Adding sesame as a major food allergen to be consistent with the Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research (FASTER) Act, which established sesame as the 9th major food allergen and went into effect on January 1^st of this year.

  • Informing consumers, in writing, of major food allergens as ingredients in unpackaged food.

  • Adding labeling of major food allergens in bulk food that is available for consumer self-dispensing.

  • Creating new requirements for the allowance of pet dogs in outdoor dining spaces.

  • Revising the definition of intact meat, including enhancements to clarify time/temperature cooking requirements.

• A comprehensive list of changes to the Food Code can be found here.

Lauren Haas, Nicholas Prust, Frederick Stearns, and Emily Thomas also contributed to this article.