U.S. flag An official website of the United States government

On Oct. 1, 2024, the FDA began implementing a reorganization impacting many parts of the agency. We are in the process of updating FDA.gov content to reflect these changes.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  1. Home
  2. Food
  3. Guidance & Regulation (Food and Dietary Supplements)
  4. Retail Food Protection
  5. Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards
  6. Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards - August 2022
  1. Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards

Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards - August 2022

"Standards of Excellence for Continual Improvement"

Developed and recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with input from federal, state, and local Regulatory officials, Industry, trade associations, academia, and consumers.

OMB Control No. 0910-0621
Expiration Date: 09-30-2023
See additional PRA statement
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PDF - 100KB)

Table of Contents

Note: If you are having trouble opening a document, please save the file to your computer first. To save a PDF file, right mouse click the link and select "Save Target As" or “Save Link As.” Follow prompts to save the file to your desired location, taking care to remember where you saved the PDF file. You may then open it within Acrobat Reader.

Overview of the Retail Program Standards

Information about Enrolling and Participating in the Retail Program Standards

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing a statement clarifying that Verification Audits conducted as part of the 2019 version of the Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS) may be conducted either virtually or on-site. A change will be made within the “Instructions for Completing the Program Self-Assessment and Verification Audit Form” for each of the nine standards. The words “on-site visit” will be replaced with the words “Verification Audit”, which is a defined term within the VNRFRPS. This editorial change is being made by the FDA outside of the normal Conference for Food Protection (CFP) cycle. Additionally, language will be added to the section entitled “Verifying the Self-Assessment” section of the Administrative Procedures document for clarification purposes.

Standard 1: Regulatory Foundation

Standard 2: Trained Regulatory Staff

Standard 3: Inspection Program Based on HACCP Principles

Standard 4: Uniform Inspection Program

Standard 5: Foodborne Illness and Food Defense Preparedness and Response

Standard 6: Compliance and Enforcement

Standard 7: Industry and Community Relations

Standard 8: Program Support and Resources

Standard 9: Program Assessment

Other Important Documents

Back to Top