Focus On Prevention
The Food Safety Modernization Act allows regulators to take a more proactive approach in preventing foodborne illnesses. NSF International outlines what food retailers need to know.
On Jan. 4, President Obama signed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) into law. This new law incorporates positive changes to our food safety laws that will help regulators take a more proactive approach in preventing foodborne illness. There are also changes to the 2009 FDA Model Retail Food Code that might impact your business.
The FSMA makes changes to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, that impact growers, processors and distributors — as well as retailers, to a lesser extent. According to the FDA's website, the FSMA provides the FDA with four new authorities and mandates in prevention, inspection and compliance, response and imports. The main thrust of the legislation is that each link in the food supply chain must have written preventive controls in place. Additional FSMA mandates to FDA include the establishment of produce safety standards and the issuing of regulations to protect against intentional contamination, among many others.
The FDA is now required to increase inspection frequency of food facilities based on the risk profile of the food or process, and ensure that producers and processors comply with the new law. When responding to outbreak crises, some of the new FDA authorities include issuing mandatory recalls, detaining potentially harmful products and suspending facility registration.
The FDA is also responsible for ensuring imported products (including imported store brand products) comply with the new food safety bill, and one of its authorities include recognition of third-party certification of foreign food facilities. FDA now has global reach with its partnership with accredited third-party certifiers.
“The Food Safety Modernization Act is a timely piece of needed legislation,” says Stan Hazan, senior director of regulatory affairs at NSF International. “Preventable foodborne illness outbreaks have occurred, causing human illness and death, and regulatory resources have not kept pace with the rapidly increasing size and diversity of the food supply, especially from imports.
“The new legislation improves the ability of the food industry and regulators to help prevent foodborne illness,” he continues. “The bill provides funding to help increase regulatory capacity to detect and respond to foodborne illness outbreaks through greater surveillance, inspection, tracking and product recall authority. Equally important is the additional provision in the legislation that provides a mechanism for regulators to rely on accredited laboratories and third-party certification bodies to assist in the monumental task to help protect our food supply. The main retail store provisions in the FSMA include recordkeeping of sources of food supplies, and the requirement to post food recall notices in stores.”
Recent changes to the 2009 FDA Model Retail Food Code might impact your internal and supply chain practices, so be sure to keep the following highlights in mind when preparing for certifications and audit inspections:
• Updated terms are used to describe violations to the 2009 FDA Model Retail Food Code. The term “critical” is now a “core item,” and the term “non-critical” is now a “priority item” or “priority foundation item.”
• The word “eggs” now has been broken down into two terms to clarify the difference between an egg and an egg product. “Egg” refers to a shell egg, and “egg product” refers to a liquid, frozen or dry egg.
• Management and personnel must have knowledge of the major food allergen groups.
• The internal temperature of ratites (such as ostriches) must now reach 68°C (155°F) for 15 seconds.
• A food establishment's HACCP plan must now include sprouting beans or seeds.
• Cut leafy vegetables now are treated as potentially hazardous foods.
As a grocer, you will want to ensure you are complying with these and other recent food code changes, as it could affect the credibility of your practices. You would be wise to consult with a third-party provider or providers for assessing the overall risk and liability of your products and their potential impact on your brand; evaluating and trending the product quality from your vendors; assessing new suppliers; and conducting supplier animal welfare audits and farm-level food safety and quality audits.
Foodborne illnesses are largely preventable if everyone takes the necessary actions to make sure they are in compliance with regulations. By combining third-party audits with certification to a global food safety standard, food companies could improve quality and food safety measures in their operations.
This article was written by employees representing the Food Safety and Quality Division of NSF International, an independent public health and safety organization that has been providing training and education, audit, certification, product approval and registration services to the food industry for more than 65 years. NSF offers a portfolio of food safety services that include assurance and certification, training and consulting, technical and risk management and online data management tools that provide visibility into your organization's food safety performance. For more information, visit http://tinyurl.com/pusu9y, or contact Michael Loftis at [email protected] or 865-233-2575.