Ask The Expert

Food Safety as Business Infrastructure

By Azure Edwards, M.S.
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Fifteen years after FSMA reoriented food safety around prevention, the technical infrastructure is largely in place. What is becoming visible at this maturity point is the layer beneath it — the business decisions, governance structures, and organizational design that determine whether that infrastructure actually holds under real operational conditions. This five-part series examines food safety through the business realities that leaders already navigate: profitability, risk, growth, brand trust, and organizational function.

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Track and Trace, traceability, supply chain
Track and Trace, traceability, supply chain

Benefits of Traceability Solutions Research Results Announced

By Carlos Alejandrino, Wiggs Civitillo
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Starfish Network recently conducted an analysis of the benefits of traceability solutions. This study surveyed professionals across various food-related sub-industries, including produce, meat, seafood, dairy, eggs, packaged & manufactured goods. The surveyed companies spanned across production, logistics, retail, and services functions across the industry value chain.

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Big data
Big data

AI Is Becoming a Practical Food Safety Equalizer for Small and Mid Sized Manufacturers

By Matthew Kang
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For small and mid sized food manufacturers, the real food safety challenge is often not the absence of programs. It is the difficulty of executing them consistently with limited people, limited time, and limited system support. AI does not replace food safety culture, trained employees, or management accountability. What it can do is reduce documentation drag, connect fragmented records, and give small plants better visibility into the daily factors that affect both compliance and performance.

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Collaboration Graphic
Collaboration Graphic

The Missing Layer in Food Safety Systems

By Azure Edwards, M.S.
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Food safety programs are often evaluated through the strength of their technical controls, yet many organizations still experience instability as systems scale. This article examines the underlying governance conditions that determine whether food safety programs function consistently in real operational environments. Understanding this structural layer can help organizations stabilize food safety systems and support long-term operational resilience.

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Beltway Beat

Achieving Goals: Integrating the Fragmented United States Federal Food Safety System into a Food Protection System

By Allen R. Sayler, Benjamin J. Reading, Ph.D., Jason Bashura, MPH, R.S., Mehrdad Tajkarimi, DVM, MPVM, Ph.D.
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The white paper, argues that the United States’ fragmented federal food safety system—split across more than 15 agencies (primarily FDA and USDA FSIS), 30+ laws, and numerous interagency agreements—creates inefficiencies, duplication, regulatory gaps, and preventable public health harms. Advocating for a unified federal food protection entity integrating safety, defense, authenticity, and infrastructure protection, the authors propose five core reform directives and four prime outcomes: better public health protection, reduced burdens, enhanced resilience against threats, and a modern, science/risk-based 21st-century system.

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Collaboration Graphic
Collaboration Graphic
In the Food Lab

How Rapid Microbiology and AI Are Transforming Modern Food Safety Laboratories

By Wesam Al-Jeddawi, Ph.D.
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Food safety laboratories are undergoing a significant shift as the food industry faces increasing pressure for speed, accuracy, and transparency. Traditional microbiological methods remain foundational, but they are often too slow to support today’s accelerated production cycles and complex supply chains. As a result, laboratories are adopting rapid microbiological methods, digital data systems, and artificial intelligence to enhance decision-making and reduce risk.

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