Simple Checklist Helps Determine Food Manufacturer’s FDA Bioterrorism 306 Traceability Compliance

Greenville, SC, December 02, 2005 --(PR.com)-- On November 10th, 2005, the FDA posted “final guidance” on its bioterrorism regulation 306 and through a system of Q&A, simultaneously cleared up some interpretations of the act and muddied many food manufacturers’ plans for compliance. With the new implications and a December 9th deadline looming for large manufacturers, Operations Technologies created a simple and free checklist that will allow companies to quickly assess their level of compliance.

FDA regulation 306 of the Homeland Security Bioterrorism Act of 2002 establishes records requirements and maintenance for persons and organizations who manufacture, process, pack, transport, distribute, receive, hold, or import food. Large companies (those with 500 or more full time equivalent employees), must be compliant December 9th, 2005; medium sized companies (less than 500 FTE’s, but more than 11) must be ready by June 9th 2006; and small companies (10 or less FTE’s) by December 2006. Both civil and criminal penalties may be pursued for non-compliance.

Operations Technologies is a provider of inventory, manufacturing, traceability and documentation solutions for food and beverage companies. Our offerings range in size from “drop-in” data collection and bar code traceability systems to full blown warehouse and production management execution solutions.

The Operations Technologies “FDA 306 Bioterrorism Checklist” provides a series of “yes” or “no” questions with direct references back to the Act allowing businesses to further research potential implications. After the checklist’s Q&A section, two scenarios are provided allowing companies to further investigate real world data situations.

The checklist is available for downloading by visiting the “Downloads” section of Operations Technologies website, http://www.operationstech.com/ .

For further information contact sales@operationstech.com

###