Food Safety And Inspection Articles

31. Practical Tools For Getting Ahead Of Food Fraud 4/6/2017

    Food fraud, or Economically Motivated Adulteration (EMA), costs the food industry billions of dollars annually. Fraudsters intentionally misrepresent the true identity of food ingredients, artificially enhancing them with illegal dyes, concealing the use of undeclared banned biocides, or palming off counterfeits while evading detection. But, you can fight food fraud with powerful proactive tools that can help you anticipate and reduce your company’s vulnerability to EMA.

32. Food Defense Requires A Collaborative Offense 3/21/2017

    Bridging the gaps between the food industry and law enforcement, along with creating long-lasting, mutually-beneficial partnerships is essential in food defense efforts. This article will explain some of those efforts, their benefits, and how the food industry can continue to collaborate to protect the food supply chain.

33. Ensuring Confidence In GFSI: Maintaining Value And Credibility Of Benchmarked Schemes 3/14/2017

    In early March, I had the opportunity to sit on a panel discussion with several GFSI stakeholders, representing all aspects of the GFSI certification process. Moderated by Neil Marshall, global director of quality & safety strategy policy and programs at Coca-Cola; and Chris Lomauro, quality manager at General Mills, our conversation rotated around this scenario: a brand owner found an issue with a supplier who has been previously audited and certified to a GFSI benchmarked program.

34. Debunking 5 FSVP Myths 3/6/2017

    Compared to the training requirements in the Preventive Controls Rule, and certainly in the Produce Safety Rule, the requirement — or even mere suggestion — that someone take a course in order to be able to comply with the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) Rule is non-existent. Why then, has every FSVP training course I’ve taught been sold out?

35. U.S. & Canadian Food Imports/Exports: What You Need To Know 2/22/2017

    With FSMA, and accompanying rules, now finalized, the countdown to enforcement is on. In order to make food available to consumers in the U.S. market, it is important to ensure food is exported according to applicable laws.

36. Time To Update Your Listeria Playbook: The FDA's Draft Guidance Is Making Waves 1/31/2017

    The FDA recently released draft guidance (the “Guidance”) on controlling Listeria monocytogenes (LM) and ready-to-eat foods (RTE) in conjunction with the final rule, Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food (PCHF rule). Any FDA-regulated facility that manufacturers, processes, packs, or holds RTE foods needs to take the time to read this new draft Guidance. Why?  For three reasons. First, as we all know, draft guidance can often take years before it turns to final guidance, and in the interim, FDA inspectors still rely on it as gospel. Second, whether it’s considered draft or final by the FDA, we all know the reality is guidance is often treated like directive, which in turn is often treated just like regulation. If we don’t follow it, we have a lot of explaining to do. Third, there are a few waves contained in this guidance that we, as an industry, all need to be aware of now!

37. A Food Recall's Ripple Effect: What We've Learned From Valley Milk Products 1/24/2017

    The Valley Milk Products recall resulted in a subsequent ripple effect of recalls affecting over 30 companies. As this food safety event has played out over the last several months, it has also raised several questions on how the industry should react and handle these types of chain-reaction-like recalls.

38. 5 Questions To Ask For Effective Food Safety Training 12/21/2016

    All departments of any company — accounting, production, quality assurance, upper management, etc. —need training. But, how important is training in the role of food safety? In a word: vital.

39. Weighing In On F&B Industry Checkweighers 11/29/2016

    Food inspection systems using state-of-the-art technologies are most successful when they are designed with many support methods and principles. I’ve written articles on how this is true with metal detection technology, X-Ray inspection machines, and vision inspection systems. This article will explore checkweighing systems, how they add support to food safety methods and principles, and the benefits implementing them can provide food manufacturers.

     

40. Food For Thought: Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About Traceability But Were Afraid To Ask (Part Three Of Three) 11/21/2016

    The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), along with United Fresh Produce Association, partnered with Food Online for a live web chat, Food For Thought: Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About Traceability But Were Afraid To Ask. In this 45-minute live Q&A, Jennifer McEntire, Ph.D., VP of food safety & technology at United Fresh Produce Association; and Kristen Spotz, senior manager of food safety & quality assurance at the Grocery Manufacturers Association answered questions on food and beverage industry traceability from the web chat’s live audience.