How to Find Out If a Facility Is FDA Registered?

With over 200 field offices across the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration helps protect public health through the regulation of food, cosmetics, medical devices, veterinary products, drugs and other consumer goods. In 2002, the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act created an additional responsibility for the FDA--inspecting food facilities for appropriate contamination safeguards and other counter-terrorism measures. Facilities that require FDA registration include any spaces used for the manufacturing, processing, packing or even storing of food that is intended for humans or animals. If you wish to find out whether a particular facility is FDA registered, you can search for it on the FDA's online registration database, which is free to the public.

Instructions

• 1

  Visit the FDA's online facility registration database at http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfrl/rl.cfm

• 2

  Fill in at least one of the search parameters in the section titled "Search Registration &Listing Database." To avoid confusion, it's best to include the state or country in your search parameters.

• 3

  Click on the "Search" button. When the search results appear, they will include both facilities--whose names have bold font and no bullet before them--and the products handled at those facilities. The products' titles use regularly-sized font and a bullet appears directly to the left of them.

• 4

  If you find a facility in the search results with the same name as the one in question, click on its title for more details. Call the phone number listed for the facility's Official Correspondent to confirm that the facility is in fact the one for which you originally searched.