2022 FDA Food Code

The 2022 Food Code was released at the end of December 2022, and with it come a number of changes to the previous iteration (2017 Food Code). These changes are the current recommendation as of January 2023, but any changes to the ServSafe® curriculum and exam have yet to be announced. Major updates have a lot to do with terminology and definitions for items such as shellfish, RTE foods, meats, and allergens.

The big change with allergens is the addition of sesame as the 9^th major allergen into the Food Code. The original 8 major allergens were codified under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004. Sesame was added in the  Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research (FASTER) Act on April 23, 2021, and went into effect January 1^st. Despite not being into effect until this year, many local regulatory authorities had already been including sesame as an allergen post-FASTER legislation. It’s always important to work with your state and local health agencies to determine what updates are already in place that may differ from the current FDA Food Code – as we always say in our classes, it’s important to remember that the Food Code is not the law, just recommendations.

We look forward to reading about the changes to the Food Code, and you can to by visiting this page for a summary of changes between 2017 and 2022 Food Codes.