FSMA Fridays — What's Ahead In 2017? (Part Four Of Four)

View the entire webcast or read part one, part two, and part three of this series

In part three of FSMA Fridays — What's Ahead In 2017? SafetyChain Software’s VP of Marketing, Jill Bender was joined by The Acheson Group’s (TAG) President and CEO Dr. David Acheson to discuss what 2017 will bring the F&B industry regarding FSMA, as well as to answer questions from the webcast’s live audience. Here, in the fourth, and final, installment of the series, the duo will continue answering the live audience’s questions.

Jill: Let's see if this gives you some pause. A comment from a caller worried about the armed enforcement of the SWAT teams for cases like that in Virginia. We knew that would come up, right? Why does the FDA need to go to such extremes?

David: On one hand, it's humorous, and on the other hand, it's very, very serious. Obviously, law abiding citizens who make food get a little offended when regulatory enforcement is accompanied by federal marshals who are armed. That creates a threatening environment. It's like, "Well, what do you think I'm going to do?" Historically, this, thankfully, has not happened very often, but I'm going from memory. I'm sure there's somebody on the call who remembers this. It was probably 10 years ago when there was an episode. I think it was an FSIS-regulated facility where there were regulators who went in to take enforcement action, and they were shot and killed by the owners or somebody in the company.

So, unfortunately, there is history when regulators are taking what they see as could be very adversarial actions on the food company who have been resisting doing "the right thing" that unfortunately, strange things can happen. I think it's for that reason, where they hit a threshold to say, "This particular company has not been cooperative. They're being difficult. They're dragging their feet." There is a history of loss of life when regulators have gone in to take, essentially cease, products. That is very unfortunate, but that's why they do it. When they feel that there is a concern, even where there is truly one that would ever get followed through on and somebody would actually pull a firearm and try to hurt an inspector, but it has happened before. That's the history behind it, unfortunately.