When the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) passed in 2011, it shifted U.S. food safety policy from a reactive afterthought to a proactive mission. That is, rather than responding to contamination after the fact, the law mandates preventing problems during manufacturing and transport before they occur. FSMA also provides the FDA with new enforcement authorities to achieve higher rates of compliance and tools to...
The FDA recently released its final FSMA rule, which applies specifically to food transportation. FSMA compliance concerns many aspects of food production, transportation of that food being one of them. While many food safety professionals have implemented HACCP or similar plans, they’ll need to review their current plans to ensure they comply with FSMA.
The FDA has been releasing final rules to govern various links in the food safety chain since 2015. Their latest announcement, the sixth set of rules, covers food transportation safety. While food transporters have been aware of these changes and taken proactive steps to move toward compliance, many may not be ready for some or all of the changes, which includes documenting temperature controls.
fDo you know where your food has been before you ate it? No? You’re not alone. For many consumers, the questions of where their food originated from (and the travel route it took), was processed, or was handled, is not a consideration. There is a faction of consumers that will research the country of origin, but recent action by the U.S. Congress on meat products now discloses that information to the public.
When The New York Times headline reads U.S. Makes Final Array of Rules on Food Safety, readers pay attention. And when Fox News promotes the same topic in its piece FDA issues final rules on produce safety, imported foods, readers expect they won’t be reading about Salmonella outbreaks linked to imported cucumbers such as the multi-state warning issued by the FDA.
Food service businesses are expected to improve the safety of food eaten by consumers with the introduction of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have released final rules addressing several food safety issues over the past few months, with a few of the outstanding rules being released in 2016. The question many businesses ask themselves is: “Do they apply to me?”
