Updated FDA guidance supports use of reusable, refillable containers

Federal food code supplemental guidance had not addressed reusables since 2013.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) updated federal food code supplemental guidance makes it easier for states to allow people to refill and reuse containers in restaurants, bulk grocery store aisles, deli counters and at events, according to the Tucson, Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, which participated in the updating process.

The national nonprofit adds that the updated 2022 food code guidance, which was published in November last year, hadn’t addressed reusables since 2013.

“Reuse challenges our throwaway society, protects forests and waterways and supports a more sustainable economy,” says Kelley Dennings, a senior campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These updates will help us fight single-use waste by making it easier for restaurants, grocery stores and concerts to offer reusable containers and allowing customers to bring them from home.”

The new supplementary federal food code language gives health departments, reuse service providers, businesses and advocates direction and an easier path to build and scale the reuse infrastructure needed to move away from single-use to multiuse containers, the organization says.

Container-related changes to the food code include:

  • Allowing new types of businesses to enter the reuse/refill market, which the Center for Biological Diversity says will help build infrastructure to transition from single-use to multiuse by allowing more flexibility for third-party washing companies and bring-your-own containers.
  • Allowing consumers to fill a clean, sanitized multiuse container brought to restaurants, hot bars, bulk aisles and deli counters pursuant to local health inspector interpretation.
  • Allowing fresh hot food or drinks (with or without milk) in reusable containers if done through a contamination-free process.

In addition to fighting the buildup of materials and pollution, the nonprofit says reusing containers reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

“Updating this reusables language in the FDA code was a herculean task and represents the codification of reuse at the highest levels,” says Dagny Tucker, who co-led the committee that worked on changing the code. “It’s a significant step forward for the reuse movement.”

The FDA advisory committee, facilitated by the Conference for Food Protection, is made up of food safety experts, businesses, academics and consumers and was led by Tucker of nonprofit Perpetual and Carrie Pohjola of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The updated committee language, approved by regulators in all 50 states, influenced the FDA’s guidance.