The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are providing a checklist for FDA-regulated human and animal food operations to use when assessing operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The checklist sets out best practices for food-sector operations that are either continuing or resuming operations during the pandemic.  Some or all of this checklist may be relevant to warehouses holding human and animal food regulated by FDA. This checklist is not exhaustive of all things human and animal food operations may do for employee health and food safety during the COVID-19 pandemic and can be used in conjunction with additional information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), OSHA, and other federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial authorities.

“This checklist is not a standard or regulation, and it creates no new legal obligations. It describes existing recommendations as well as mandatory safety and health standards. . . . Ensuring employees remain healthy is key to maintaining continuity of operations and, under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers must provide a safe and healthful working environment free of serious recognized safety and health hazards,” the guidance says