Tag Archives: regulatory

Food processing and sanitation

Safety in the Details: Maintenance Practices That Make or Break Compliance

By Ainsley Lawrence
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Food processing and sanitation

Food production facilities constantly face scrutiny from regulatory bodies and consumers. While you might focus on visible sanitation protocols and equipment upkeep, subtle facility issues often remain undetected until they become critical compliance problems. Hard water deposits gradually compromise cleaning effectiveness, while hidden mold growth can quietly contaminate products despite thorough surface cleaning.

What seems like minor maintenance concerns can quickly become major regulatory violations, production shutdowns, and compromised food safety. When you recognize early warning signs of water quality issues and environmental contamination, you can address problems before they affect production or trigger compliance failures.

Water Quality and Its Impact on Food Safety

Water functions as both an ingredient and a cleaning agent throughout your food production facility. You might overlook how water composition affects everything from equipment performance to final product quality. Minerals in hard water create scale buildup inside pipes, valves, and machinery, reducing operational efficiency and creating ideal environments for bacterial growth in hard-to-clean crevices.

Scale accumulation on heating elements forces your equipment to work harder, shortening operational lifespans and increasing maintenance costs. Even more worrisome, mineral deposits can interfere with cleaning agents, reducing their effectiveness and potentially leaving surfaces inadequately sanitized despite proper chemical usage and cleaning protocols.

Food processing areas face particular challenges when hard water diminishes sanitizer effectiveness. Chemical reactions between minerals and cleaning agents can neutralize active compounds, leaving surfaces appearing clean while failing to meet microbial reduction standards. You might only discover resulting food safety risks during laboratory testing or regulatory inspections.

Selecting appropriate water treatment systems requires understanding your facility’s water quality challenges. Industrial water softeners protect critical equipment while ensuring cleaning chemicals perform at optimal levels. Softened water reduces chemical usage, improves cleaning efficacy, and helps maintain consistent product quality across production batches.

Mold Risks in Food Production Facilities

Mold contamination presents a persistent threat in your food production environment, yet early signs often remain unnoticed until problems escalate. Vigilant monitoring helps you prevent widespread contamination issues before they affect products or trigger regulatory concerns.

You should establish routine inspection protocols focusing on areas prone to moisture accumulation. Pay particular attention to loading docks, ceiling tiles near HVAC vents, wall joints, and drainage systems as common mold growth sites. Persistent musty odors often indicate hidden problems, even when visible mold remains absent. Train your staff to report such odors immediately so you can trigger thorough inspections of surrounding areas.

Visible water staining on walls, ceilings, and floors indicates current or past moisture issues requiring immediate investigation. Discolorations may appear minor but often signal more extensive problems behind surfaces. Humidity fluctuations, particularly in processing areas generating steam or requiring frequent cleaning, create ideal conditions for mold proliferation.

When you discover visible mold, implement immediate containment measures to prevent spore distribution throughout your facility. Signs you need professional mold remediation include recurring moisture issues, discovery of mold covering surfaces larger than 10 square feet, or mold in HVAC systems. Professional assessment determines contamination extent and appropriate removal methods to prevent cross-contamination during remediation.

Moisture control strategies provide long-term protection against mold development. Proper ventilation, strategic equipment placement to reduce condensation, and prompt repair of water leaks create environments less conducive to mold growth. Regular air quality testing complements your visual inspections by detecting elevated spore counts before visible growth appears.

Regulatory Compliance and Maintenance

Food safety regulations require comprehensive preventive controls addressing both known and potential hazards. Your maintenance programs are vital, meeting regulatory requirements by preventing physical, chemical, and biological contamination risks from facility infrastructure and equipment.

Regulatory inspections increasingly focus on maintenance documentation and implementation rather than written programs alone. Inspectors evaluate whether your maintenance practices effectively prevent contamination by examining repair records, preventive maintenance schedules, and corrective action documentation.

You benefit from integrating maintenance teams into food safety committees to ensure regulatory requirements inform maintenance priorities. Such collaboration helps your maintenance personnel understand how their work directly impacts compliance and product safety, encouraging more thorough documentation and follow-through on preventive measures.

Adding preventive maintenance takes thorough scheduling and verification:

  1. Catalog all equipment and facility components requiring regular maintenance.
  2. Document maintenance procedures specifically addressing food safety concerns.
  3. Establish verification steps confirming maintenance effectiveness.
  4. Create clear escalation protocols when maintenance issues impact food safety controls.
  5. Review and update maintenance procedures when equipment or processes change.

PCQI training supports preventive controls implementation by building cross-functional understanding of how maintenance practices affect food safety outcomes. Involving maintenance personnel in hazard analysis and preventive controls planning helps to identify overlooked maintenance concerns before they become critical regulatory issues.

Long-Term Maintenance Strategies for Sustainable Food Safety

Creating sustainable food safety requires moving from reactive maintenance to strategic facility management, addressing root causes of contamination risks. Preventive planning allows you to address small issues before they escalate into critical failures or regulatory violations.

Successful maintenance strategies integrate water quality management and environmental controls into standard operating procedures:

Quarterly water quality assessments help you track mineral content fluctuations and detect potential contamination issues before they affect production. Annual plumbing system evaluations identify areas prone to mineral buildup, requiring targeted descaling or component replacement.

Your environmental monitoring should include humidity tracking in processing areas, with documentation of seasonal fluctuations informing ventilation adjustments. Pay particular attention to HVAC maintenance schedules during seasonal transitions when temperature and humidity changes often reveal previously hidden issues.

Water treatment improvements yield multiple operational benefits. For instance, properly treated water reduces chemical usage during cleaning, extends equipment lifespan, and improves product consistency. You’ll typically encounter fewer maintenance calls for equipment malfunctions, particularly for steam-generating equipment and water-cooled systems.

Adding improvements to facilities requires a multifaceted strategy:

  1. Baseline current water quality through comprehensive testing.
  2. Identify critical control points where water quality impacts safety.
  3. Select appropriate treatment technologies based on specific contaminants.
  4. Implement monitoring procedures to verify treatment effectiveness.
  5. Train production staff on maintaining treatment systems.

You’ll find soft water integration improves cleaning effectiveness while reducing chemical consumption and labor requirements. Your product quality can benefit from more consistent flavor profiles and improved texture in water-intensive processing as well.

Renovation Considerations for Maintaining Food Safety

Facility renovations present both opportunities and risks for your food safety compliance. Thoughtful planning turns necessary updates into strategic improvements, driving long-term regulatory compliance, whereas poorly executed projects can introduce new contamination vulnerabilities despite significant capital investment.

Material selection plays a critical role in renovation success. Your food-contact surfaces require non-porous, easily cleanable materials resistant to cleaning chemicals and processing conditions. Even non-contact areas warrant careful material consideration since deteriorating building components can release particulates into production environments. Selecting proper sealants and gaskets prevents moisture intrusion into wall cavities and under equipment, eliminating potential mold growth sites.

Plumbing modifications demand particular scrutiny during renovation planning. Ensure pipe runs avoid areas where leaks could contaminate products or create hidden moisture problems. You can simplify future maintenance access by installing additional clean-outs and inspection ports during renovations, encouraging more frequent inspections and preventive maintenance. Water treatment system upgrades integrated during renovations improve overall facility operations while protecting new equipment investments.

Airflow patterns require careful engineering during facility modifications to prevent cross-contamination between production zones. Pressure differentials between areas with varying risk profiles help contain potential contaminants, which is particularly important when renovations connect previously separated processing areas. Food safety renovation planning should include airflow mapping before and after project completion.

Effective renovation planning requires:

  1. Conducting pre-renovation hazard analysis and identifying potential new risks.
  2. Establishing temporary controls to protect production during construction.
  3. Developing enhanced cleaning protocols for post-construction validation.
  4. Creating detailed documentation of infrastructure changes for future reference.
  5. Updating preventive maintenance programs and incorporating new components.

Post-renovation commissioning should include thorough environmental testing before resuming normal production and establishing new baselines for ongoing monitoring programs.

Final Thoughts

Success in food safety boils down to noticing the small details before they become big problems. Taking care of water quality and managing moisture in your facility creates a strong defense against contamination while keeping you on the right side of regulations. The payoff from this attentive approach is substantial – lower maintenance bills, more effective cleaning, and better product consistency. Instead of treating maintenance as separate from food safety, bringing these concerns together makes everything work better.

 

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FDA Warns Industry on Food Safety Risks of Transferring Genes for Proteins that are Food Allergens

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The FDA has issued a letter to developers and manufacturers of new plant varieties who intend to transfer genes for proteins that are food allergens (including allergens from foods identified as major food allergens) into new plant varieties used for food. The purpose of the letter is to remind them of the relevant legal requirements for these products, which may include adding a gene for an allergenic animal protein to a new plant variety to provide a non-animal source of the protein for use as an ingredient in another food.

While the agency noted that it is not aware of any foods currently in the U.S. market derived from these types of new plant varieties, it is aware of research and development in this area.

The FDA is asking developers to consider the food safety risks posed by such allergens and plan early in development to manage those risks, including the potential for recalls due to undeclared allergens.

“We are specifically reminding those developers who are now exploring development of these types of plant varieties of their responsibility for food safety. In particular, we are reminding them to consider the allergenicity issues related to their products, and how they would be stewarded from production to manufacturing to consumption so that they do not inadvertently or unexpectedly enter the food supply,” the FDA stated. “We are also reminding them that they need to be properly labeled when intentionally part of the food supply.”

To reduce risk to consumers as well as the risk of recalls, the FDA is encouraging developers of new plant varieties to consult with the agency through its voluntary premarket consultation program for foods from new plant varieties prior to marketing.

 

 

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FDA Calls for Enhanced Powdered Infant Formula Safety Measures in Letter to Industry

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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On March 8, the FDA sent a letter to manufacturers, packers, distributors, exporters, importers, and retailers involved in the manufacturing and distribution of powdered infant formula to share current safety information and call on the industry to take prompt action to improve processes and programs for the protection of our infants.

The agency notes that since the 2022 infant formula recalls and resulting shortages, it has been working to improve the resiliency of the infant formula supply by issuing multiple guidance documents intended to help facilitate the availability of safe and nutritionally adequate products in the U.S. marketplace through the exercise of enforcement discretion. The FDA has also taken steps to enhance the safety of powdered infant formula through the development of a Cronobacter prevention strategy, enhanced inspectional activities, increased engagement with the infant formula industry, and by pursuing regulatory action when appropriate.

In addition, over the past two months, food safety staff have been meeting regularly with manufacturers to further develop the prevention strategy to help prevent Cronobacter illness associated with consumption of powdered infant formula. The letter sent to manufacturers reflects the information the agency gained through interactions with industry as well as the latest available science on improving the microbiological safety of powdered infant formula.

The FDA called on members of the infant formula industry to use the information in the letter to take prompt action to improve processes and programs for the protection of infants. In addition to this call to action, Congress recently added new requirements for manufacturers aimed at mitigating supply chain disruptions through mandatory shortage notifications and risk management plans.

 

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From the Editor’s Desk

FDA Proposes Redesign of Human Foods Program

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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On January 31, Robert M. Califf, M.D., MACC, FDA Commissioner of Food and Drugs shared a proposal for a unified Human Foods Program that would combine the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), Office of Food Policy and Response (OFPR) and certain functions of the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) under one leader.

The new model was proposed in response to the findings of an external evaluation of the FDA Foods program conducted by an expert panel of the Reagan-Udall Foundation and a separate internal review of the agency’s infant formula supply chain response completed last year.

The Reagan Udall evaluation identified several concerns, including lack of communication, lack of a clear vision and mission, lack of a clear, overarching leader, and siloed workers within the FDA’s Human Foods program. The panel also found that the FDA Human Foods program was ill defined with multiple agencies, including CFSAN, OFPR and OVA, working independently of each other, often with separate leadership and little sharing of information. It recommended creating a new Federal Food Administration under HHS that would operate parallel to, rather than under the auspices of, the FDA.

In his statement announcing the proposal for a more unified Human Foods program, Califf highlighted the issues identified by these independent reviews, including problems with the current culture, structure, resources, and authorities in the FDA Human Foods program.

“Today I am announcing a new, transformative vision for the FDA Human Foods Program. I am also announcing a transformative vision for the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA, the FDA’s field-based operations) to support the FDA organization as a whole. The proposed structures for both groups will have clear priorities that are focused on protecting and promoting a safe, nutritious U.S. food supply that more quickly adapts to an ever-changing and evolving environment,” said Califf.

The “Vision for a Reimagined Human Foods Program” includes the recommendation to create a Human Foods Program under a single leader who reports directly to the Commissioner. Under this plan, the functions of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), Office of Food Policy and Response (OFPR), as well as certain functions of ORA will be unified into a new organization called the Human Foods Program.

“The FDA will conduct a competitive national search for a Deputy Commissioner for Human Foods, who will oversee the Program. The person in this position will report directly to me and will be charged with leading a unified Human Foods Program that keeps the foods we regulate safe and nutritious, while ensuring the agency remains on the cutting edge of the latest advancements in science, technology, and nutrition,” said Califf. “The Deputy Commissioner will have decision-making authority over policy, strategy, and regulatory program activities within the Human Foods Program, as well as resource allocation and risk-prioritization.”

Other key elements of the proposed new Human Foods Program include:

  • Creation of a Center for Excellence in Nutrition that prioritizes the agency’s ongoing efforts to help American consumers make more informed food choices, including by working with industry to offer healthier, more nutritious food products.
  • Establishment of an Office of Integrated Food Safety System Partnerships that will focus on elevating, coordinating and integrating the FDA’s food safety and response activities with state and local regulatory partners to more effectively meet the vision of an Integrated Food Safety System in the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011.

The proposed program would also include the establishment of a Human Foods Advisory Committee made up of external experts who will advise the agency on challenging and emerging issues in food safety, nutrition and innovative food technologies.

“Finally, there will be an emphasis on strengthening our enterprise information technology and analytical capabilities to fulfill the promise described in the New Era of Smarter Food Safety and support the improvement in workflow that will accompany these changes,” said Califf. “This area of focus will support the work of the Human Foods Program by enabling more facile communication, more efficient operations and enhanced empirical risk algorithms to guide the priorities of the program and the work in the field.”

To execute this new plan, the FDA has formed an Implementation and Change Management Group that will be charged with developing a detailed plan for implementation of the newly organized agency. “While details of this proposal continue to be developed, CFSAN, ORA, and OFPR will continue to operate under their current structures, with my direct oversight. I look forward to providing additional public updates by the end of February on our progress, organizational design and timeline,” said Califf.

 

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

It’s Official: FDA Designates New Webpage to Food Fraud

By Susanne Kuehne
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Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
FDA, Food fraud
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database, owned and operated by Decernis, a Food Safety Tech advertiser. Image Credit: Susanne Kuehne

Food fraud has become such an important issue that many governments are monitoring it much more closely. To keep producers and consumers informed on the latest developments, the FDA has generated a new web page on economically motivated adulteration (EMA). The page includes links on how to report food fraud (including a list of consumer complaint coordinators), important examples of adulteration (i.e., honey, olive oil and seafood), how food fraud is detected and monitored, enforcement and legal consequences such as recalls, seizures and import refusals, guidance documents to assist manufacturers and importers, and a list of import alerts.

Resource

  1. FDA. (November 4, 2021). “Economically Motivated Adulteration (Food Fraud)”.
Roberto Bellavia, Kestrel
FST Soapbox

How Integrated Compliance Management Systems Maximize Efficiency

By Roberto Bellavia
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Roberto Bellavia, Kestrel

Managing the complexities of a management system is challenging for any food and beverage company, particularly for the team tasked with implementing the system throughout the organization. That is because every regulatory agency (e.g., FDA, USDA, OSHA, EPA) and voluntary certification (e.g., GFSI-benchmarked standards, gluten-free, organic, ISO) calls for companies to fulfill compliance requirements—many of which overlap. Supply chain and internal requirements can create further complications and confusion.

In today’s “New Era of Smarter Food Safety,” having a common system to organize, manage and track compliance offers an ideal solution. Dynamic tools are becoming available—systems that can manage employee training, pest control, laboratory testing, supply chain management tools, regulatory compliance and certification requirements, etc.

Unfortunately, these systems are often not set up to “talk” to each other, leaving company representatives to navigate many systems, databases, folders, and documents housed in many different locations.

The Solution: Compliance Management Systems

An integrated compliance management system (CMS) is intended to bring all these tools together to create one system that effectively manages compliance requirements, enables staff to carry out daily tasks and manage operations, and supports operational decision making by tracking and trending data that is collected daily by the team charged with implementation.

A CMS is used to coordinate, organize, control, analyze and visualize information to help organizations remain in compliance and operate efficiently. A successful CMS thinks beyond just access to documents; it manages the processes, knowledge and work that is critical to helping identify and control business risks. That may include the following:

  • Ensuring only authorized employees can access the right information.
  • Consolidating documents and records in a centralized location to provide easy access
  • Setting up formal business practices, processes and procedures
  • Implementing compliance and certification programs
  • Monitoring and measuring performance
  • Supporting continuous improvements
  • Documenting decisions and how they are made
  • Capturing institutional knowledge and transferring that into a sustainable system
  • Using task management and tracking tools to understand how people are doing their work
  • Enabling data trending and predictive analytics

CMS Case Study: Boston Sword and Tuna

In early 2019, Boston Sword and Tuna (BST) began the process of achieving SQF food safety certification. We initially started working with BST on the development, training and implementation of the program requirements to the SQF code for certification—including developing guidance documents for a new site under construction.

The process of attaining SQF certification included the development of a register of SQF requirements in Microsoft SharePoint, which has since evolved into a more comprehensive approach to overall data and compliance management. “We didn’t plan to build a paperless food safety management system,” explains BST President Larry Dore, “until we implemented our SQF food safety management program and realized that we needed a better way to manage data.”

We worked with BST to structure the company’s SharePoint CMS according to existing BST food safety management processes to support its certification requirements and overall food safety management program. This has included developing a number of modules/tools to support ongoing compliance efforts and providing online/remote training in the management of the site and a paperless data collection module.

The BST CMS has been designed to support daily task activities with reminders and specific workflows that ensure proper records verifications are carried out as required. The system houses tools and forms, standards/regulatory registers, and calendars for tracking action items, including the following:

  • Ambient Temperature
  • Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA)
  • Chemical Inventory/Safety Data Sheets (SDS)
  • Compliance Management
  • Customer Complaints
  • Document Control
  • Employee Health Check
  • Food Safety Meetings Management Program
  • Forklift Inspections
  • Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Audit
  • SQF Register
  • Maintenance (requests/work orders/assets/repairs)
  • Nightly Cleaning Inspections
  • Operational/Pre-Operational Inspections
  • Sanitation Pre-Op Inspections
  • Scale Calibration
  • Sharp/Knife Inspections
  • Shipping/Receiving Logs
  • Thawing Temperature Log
  • Thermometer Calibration

Key Considerations for Designing a Successful CMS

An effective CMS requires an understanding of technology, operational needs, regulatory compliance obligations and certification requirements, as well as the bigger picture of the company’s overall strategy. There are several key considerations that can help ensure companies end up with the right CMS and efficiency tools to provide an integrated system that supports the organization for the long term.

Before design can even begin, it is important to first determine where you are starting by conducting an inventory of existing systems. This includes not only identifying how you are currently managing your compliance and certification requirements, but also assessing how well those current systems (or parts of them) are working for the organization.

As with many projects, design should begin with the end in mind. What are the business drivers that are guiding your system? What are the outcomes you want to achieve through your system (e.g., create efficiencies, provide remote access, reduce duplication of effort, produce real-time reports, respond to regulatory requirements, foster teamwork and communication)? Assuming that managing compliance and certification requirements is a fundamental objective of the CMS, having a solid understanding of those requirements is key to building the system. These requirements should be documented so they can be built into the CMS for efficient tracking and management.

While you may not build everything from the start, defining the ultimate desired end state will allow for development to proceed so every module is aligned under the CMS. Understand that building a CMS is a process, and different organizations will be comfortable with different paces and budgets. Establish priorities (i.e., the most important items on your list), schedule and budget. Doing so will allow you to determine whether to tackle the full system at once or develop one module at a time. For many, it makes sense to start with existing processes that work well and transition those first. Priorities should be set based on ease of implementation, compliance risk, business improvement and value to the company.

Finally, the CMS will not work well without getting the right people involved—and that can include many different people at various points in the process (e.g., end user entering data in the plant, management reviewing reports and metrics, system administrator, office staff). The system should be designed to reflect the daily routines of those employees who will be using it. Modules should build off existing routines, tasks, and activities to create familiarity and encourage adoption. A truly user-friendly system will be something that meets the needs of all parties.

Driving Value and Compliance Efficiency

When thoughtfully designed, a CMS can provide significant value by creating compliance efficiencies that improve the company’s ability to create consistent and reliable compliance performance. “Our system is allowing us to actually use data analytics for decision making and continuous opportunity,” said Dore. “Plus, it is making remote activities much more practical and efficient”.

For BST, the CMS also:

  • Provides central management of inspection schedules, forms, and other requirements.
  • Increases productivity through reductions in prep time and redundant/manual data entry.
  • Improves data access/availability for reporting and planning purposes.
  • Effectively monitors operational activities to ensure compliance and certifications standards are met.
  • Allows data to be submitted directly and immediately into SharePoint so it can be reviewed, analyzed, etc. in real time.
  • Creates workflow and process automation, including automated notifications to allow for real-time improvements.
  • Allows follow-up actions to be assigned and sent to those who need them.

All these things work together to help the company reduce compliance risk, create efficiencies, provide operational flexibility, and generate business improvement and value.

Stephen Dombroski, QAD
FST Soapbox

Regulatory Issues and Transportation: Critical Factors in the Quest for Sustainability in Food Manufacturing

By Stephen Dombroski
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Stephen Dombroski, QAD

Over the last several months, we have been exploring the details of several critical factors that are impacting the food and beverage manufacturing sector in terms of sustainability, including:

Two additional factors that food manufacturers now have to manage regarding sustainable practices are transportation and regulatory restrictions. Each can be discussed as a separate topic, but they are intertwined, as there have always been regulations regarding food transportation, and obviously food has always needed to be transported. Now that sustainability is an important topic in all areas of food manufacturing, it makes sense to discuss these two subjects both individually and collectively.

Transportation and Regulatory Joint Concerns

Ensuring that all areas of food transportation incorporate sustainable practices is a critical component of achieving sustainability in food manufacturing. To this point, however, these types of practices have not fully been implemented or even designed. This area is still evolving. From a straight transportation point of view, governments globally have been imposing restrictions for decades. These restrictions vary from country to country, province to province, region to region, and so on, and this causes confusion when inter- or intra-region transportation of food is required. There are also several regulatory differences based on mode of transportation. Land, air and sea transportation can and should have different regulations.

Another ingredient that should be added to this product mix of sustainability, transportation and regulations is food safety and the integrity of the food materials being transported whether it is ingredients, work-in-process foods or finished products. Various modes of transportation can affect the chemical composition, physical appearance, nutritional value and quality and safety of food. It could be straightforward to start implementing restrictions, regulations and new methods of how to package, manufacture and transport food to satisfy the growing trend of sustainable food behaviors. However, what cannot get lost in this is the issue of food safety and integrity.

Sustainability More than Recycling and Litter

When discussing regulations around transportation and food, many people immediately think of littering, of some uncaring individual throwing a soda pop can out of a car window. Littering regulations, laws, fines, penalties and public service campaigns have been in place globally for more than 50 years. The next time you go outside, take a look around at how effective those have been. Sustainability goes far beyond the issue of litter. One area that works hand in hand with transportation of food is climate change. Governments have been evaluating the current practices and have begun implementing changes designed to positively affect climate change. Some examples include:

  • 23 American states and Washington, D.C. limit idling by some or all vehicles.
  • The California Air Resources Board adopted the TRU Airborne Toxic Control Measure in 2004 to reduce diesel particulate matter pollutant emissions.
  • In 2020, the International Maritime Organization will implement a new regulation for a 0.50% global sulfur cap for marine fuels.

The food and beverage industry is actively embracing other changes that affect sustainability. Electric trucks fit well with the F&B distribution hub model, with clean, quiet, short-run deliveries. Fuel usage during transportation is being considered from every angle. Local and regional food systems, where farmers and processors sell and distribute their food to consumers within a given area, use less fossil fuel for transportation because the distance from farm to consumer is shorter. This shorter distance also can help to reduce CO2 emissions.

Change Starts with Money

During many conversations I have had with my wife about a variety of subjects, especially those that can be considered controversial, one of us always raises the same question which is: “When in doubt, what is it all about?” And most of the time, the answer is money. Regulations around sustainability in food manufacturing are being driven by demands made by the consumer. The purchasers of the finished food product dictate almost every aspect of that product to the manufacturer because, let’s face it, if the consumer doesn’t like it, they won’t buy it. And if they don’t buy it, what will eventually happen to the manufacturer? That’s right—it goes out of business.

Now there is a good definition of sustainability or at least of what is not sustainable. From the transportation side of things, manufacturers in almost all cases pay the freight of shipping their food products to the members of the value chain. This obviously affects the costs of goods sold, which is a direct component of the bottom line and the profitability of the business. And with margins typically low in food and beverage manufacturing, transportation costs are always on the minds of the executives. So as the drive for sustainable transportation practices rolls into food manufacturing, you can bet that in addition to meeting sustainable practices, they will fit into the financial plans of the organization as well.

Sustainability: Just Another Component in a Long Line of Disruptors in Food Manufacturing

Years ago, when the topic of disruption in food manufacturing came up, many would mention things like a customer changing an order, an ingredient not arriving on time, or a packaging line going down for an hour. Today, these occurrences are just part of the day-to-day process and reality of food manufacturing. They are going to happen, and disruptions are the things that will make a food manufacturer have to change their business model and force them to change their philosophy and begin to evaluate their business practices and systems to adjust to the world in which they operate.

Sustainability is another one of those disruptions that will impact the process of food transportation long term. Sustainability will be an area that eventually forces manufacturers to operate within new regulatory parameters imposed on how they produce and ship their food. Through these changes, manufacturers will have to ensure that food meets the current and future safety regulations while maintaining profitability. That is where real sustainability will be measured. Changes to business, movements like sustainability are adding to the disruption of the food industry at unprecedented rates of speed. In order to survive and thrive, and to meet these disruptions head on and be sustainable themselves, global food manufacturers must be able to innovate and adapt their business models.

FDA

FDA Issues Letter to Industry Addressing Efforts to Reduce Chemical Hazards in Foods for Babies and Young Children

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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A report released last month by the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy revealed dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals in baby food. It stirred up quite a bit of controversy and concern, and raised questions over whether baby food manufacturers were hiding dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals in food, and whether FDA was doing enough to ensure the safety of food.

In an effort to assure the public that FDA is taking the issue seriously, the agency published a constituent update about its actions to further prevent or reduce toxic elements in foods for babies and young children. It also issued a letter to manufacturers and processors of baby and toddler foods as a reminder of the “responsibility under the rulemaking to consider chemical hazards that may be present in foods when conducting your hazard analysis,” which is part of the preventive control provisions of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-based Preventive Controls for Human Food FSMA rule.

“FDA takes exposure to toxic elements in the food supply extremely seriously, especially when it comes to protecting the health and safety of the youngest and most vulnerable in the population. Toxic elements, such as arsenic and lead, are present in the environment and may enter the food supply through soil, water, or air,” stated CFSAN Director Susan Mayne in the letter. “Our goal is to reduce exposure to toxic elements in foods to the greatest extent feasible and to further advance progress in this area through more research and enhanced collaboration among stakeholders.”

The agency also stated that it is finalizing a plan to reduce levels of toxic elements in baby foods, including:

  • “Reviewing current action levels, as well as developing additional action levels, to help make food safer, including finalizing the arsenic in apple juice draft guidance and publishing a draft guidance with action levels for lead in juices.

  • Focused compliance and enforcement activities, including inspections.

  • Providing guidance to industry on how to meet their obligations under current regulations.”

The agency will also continue its surveillance sampling assignment that focuses on these products.

FDA

FDA Begins Phase Two of Artificial Intelligence Imported Seafood Pilot Program

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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FDA is beginning phase two of its Artificial Intelligence Imported Seafood Pilot Program. The program, which is expected to run from February 1 through July 31, intends to improve FDA’s response in quickly and efficiently identifying potentially harmful imported seafood products.

Phase one of the pilot looked at using machine learning to find violative seafood shipments. “The pilot program will help the agency not only gain valuable experience with new powerful AI-enabled technology but also add to the tools used to determine compliance with regulatory requirements and speed up detection of public health threats,” FDA stated in a news release. “Following completion of the pilot, FDA will communicate on our findings to promote transparency and facilitate dialogue on how new and emerging technologies can be harnessed to solve complex public health challenges.”

The pilot program is part of the agency’s efforts that fall under the New Era of Smarter Food Safety.