The FDA recently announced that Stephen Ostroff, M.D., Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine, is retiring. Frank Yiannas, VP of Food Safety at Walmart, will take over his role starting in 2019. The FDA is also creating a new role for Yiannas, as Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response. This role will include the work that Ostroff had previously been overseeing, but also includes a significant change that will positively impact food safety.
"Yiannas will also reportedly take on the role of senior scientific advisor to Commissioner Gottlieb on issues related to food safety and supply chain."
- https://foodsafetytech.com/news_article/breaking-stephen-ostroff-to-retire-from-fda-walmarts-frank-yiannas-to-take-the-reins/
This new focus on driving effective food safety practices and extending this to the supply chain will significantly improve the FDA’s ability to keep the public safe. Ostroff’s 10-year plan focused on driving toward a more proactive, preventive, and risk-informed approach to food safety and nutrition. With Yiannas’ help, this will soon become a reality.
Yiannas has been a thought leader as it relates to food safety. Coming from the private sector where technology is more readily adopted, he will be the much-needed advocate for embracing automation as a means to improve food safety. He has previously highlighted the importance of advancements in technology, such as IoT-enabled sensors and digital checklists, in improving our food strategy.
“The ongoing U.S.-wide romaine lettuce E.coli outbreak showed us, once again, that our traditional paper-based food tracking system is no longer adequate for the 21st century. An ability to deliver accurate, real-time information about food, how it’s produced, and how it flows from farm to table is a game-changer for food safety.”
- https://foodsafetytech.com/feature_article/the-future-of-food-safety-a-qa-with-walmarts-frank-yiannas/
Yiannas will act as a major accelerator to government-led policies. His hyper-relevant experience in the private sector will prove invaluable to the FDA and implementing its goals.
Despite the wide-spread interest in technology as a means to improve food safety, only early adopters have been champing at the bit to embrace digital food safety. However, as government policies start to encourage these policies, IoT in food safety will enter a stage of mass adoption. This change will enable most food service organizations to be at the forefront of innovation, leading the way to safer consumers.
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