FSMA Fridays: Top Risks Of Environmental Monitoring And Controls (Part Two Of Four)

Check out the entire webcast or read part one of this series

In part one of FSMA Fridays: Top Risks Of Environmental Monitoring And Controls, SafetyChain Software’s VP of Marketing, Jill Bender was joined by The Acheson Group’s (TAG) founder and CEO Dr. David Acheson to discuss top risks in relation to environmental monitoring, as well as a review of FSMA requirements for it. Here, in part two, the duo continues their conversation.

Jill: What are the actual FSMA requirements for environmental monitoring?

David: I've been talking a little bit about FSMA as the component, but let's revisit that. I suspect that most people on this call could probably recite them back to me just as well as I can recite them back to our colleagues. I hope. Anyway, the point to remember here is that if you are making a ready-to-eat (RTE) food and it is exposed to your manufacturing or processing environment, by that, my interpretation of that is that if it's coming out of some sort of a process, so let's assume it's a cooking process, or a steaming process, or pasteurization process, and it is exposed, that means that it has not been cooked in a bag, or a can, or a bottle, or anything, it's exposed to the environment, even if only briefly, then it falls into this category of exposed.

At that point, I think it's very critical that the manufacturers do a risk assessment and say, "All right, it's coming out red hot. It's really hot. We're doing a hot fill. It's going right into a container within seconds. Yes, it's exposed, but the risk is really, really small." Take that into account. I think that's a factor that can help you.