In the United States, Food and Drugs Administration(FDA), is the state agency that deals with issues related to food and medicine, and they are the authors of a modification to the laws of the United States in 2011, when Barack Obama was president, promulgating the FSMA Law (Food Safety Modernization Act)

The FSMA is a law that began regulating everything related to food safety in 2011. It is responsible for reviewing all cleaning and hygiene records of food producers that are sold in the United States (both imported and locally produced).

Rule 204

Various articles, rules and modifications have been made to this law, and one of them is rule 204, which will come into force in January 2026, and which supervises or monitors the history and traces of the last two years in products entering the US.

For the implementation of rule 204, there is a traceability list. In the case of Chile, the foods that enter this list for inspection are mainly salmon, cheeses and other similar products. Fruit from temperate climates is not included, only fruits from tropical climates (mangoes, watermelons, melons, papayas, etc.), although if a blueberry has been harvested and is intended for desserts or drinks, those blueberries could enter under this rule 204.

When a product has a supply chain, which starts with production, harvesting, cooling, packaging and everything related to the export, reception and distribution of the products, it generates a lot of data and traceability that needs to be recorded, entering data and uploading information at different times.

So what Rule 204 requires is that the various actors in the supply chain should be able to upload this information because it needs to be reviewed if the FDA requests it.

Food Safety Key

The Food Safety Key virtual tool enables all actors in the supply chain to enter traceability data.

We talked with John Paul Avendano, CEO of Food Safety Key about the topic.

• Using the platform allows all actors in the supply chain to have the possibility of entering data regarding a batch, for example, if you are my client and if you are a fruit producer or a salmon producer, not only do you have access to upload information regarding a batch, but you also give access to the different actors involved in the production process to do so. From the harvest to the final receiver or distributor in the destination market. The platform also gives access to the FDA if required.

The Food Safety Key platform is a repository of traceability data and activities related to products on their way to export to the US market, not only from the beginning of this journey, but also from the moment they are created as a product.

Food Safety Key is set to become a vital tool for exporters of food products, in this case to the US market, but in the future to all major markets in the world, as the demands for traceability and detailed product information are becoming increasingly high.

“This legislation begins to be implemented in March 2026, but it requires two years of data, so we should already be uploading the required information, because if we do not comply with these requirements we will have to divert shipments to other markets,” warns the CEO of Food Safety Key.