The FDA requires that facilities provide a UFI (Unique Facility Identifier) that is recognized as acceptable by the FDA when you submit your food facility registration or renewal in the Food Facility Registration Module (FFRM). The Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition has recently updated the guidance on compliance. This latest guidance supersedes the …
Food Safety
Working Closely Together The U.S. & Mexico Strengthen Food Safety Ties
The FDA is hard at work in collaborative efforts with the Mexican government and food producers of Mexico in order to strengthen food safety measures. And it’s no wonder since “about one-third of all agency-regulated human food imported into the U.S. is from Mexico, including 60% of our fresh-produce imports.” The agencies in Mexico responsible …
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Food Safety
The Cause of Covid-19 Investigation Continues As China Still Blames Frozen Food and Refuses to Reveal Critical Data to W.H.O.
If China has nothing to hide, why do Chinese scientists continue to refuse to share data that could shed light on the origin of the coronavirus? Recently, a group of independent investigators visited Wuhan, China on behalf of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) in an effort to learn more about the early days of the …
Food Safety
Smarter Food Safety: It’s More Than Just Technology
One of the most important and necessary focuses for food manufacturers in 2021 is their commitment to a strong food safety culture. This has become even more evident due to the challenges faced during this covid-19 pandemic. Food Safety Culture has been included in the most recent standards of the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) …
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Food Safety
China Claims Evidence of COVID-19 on Imported Frozen Foods Crackdown on Imports Draws Criticism Worldwide
“COVID19 did not start in central China’s Wuhan but may come through imported frozen food and packaging” experts said on November 24th Facebook post by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily. It is clear from this statement and a recent stepped-up media campaign by the Chinese government that they will do whatever is necessary …
Food Safety
Food Safety Becomes Political in Taiwan
Just a few weeks ago Taipei’s streets were filled with thousands of protestors gathered for the “Autumn Struggle”, an annual march organized by various Taiwanese labor groups. The anger of the marchers was fueled by a recent decision of the current government to allow the importation of U.S. pork that contains the additive ractopamine. This …
Food Safety
FDA PROPOSES NEW RULE FOR FOOD TRACEABILITY
The FDA has proposed a new rule “Requirements for Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods” (Food Traceability Proposed Rule). This is a key part of the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint and would implement Section 204(d) of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). This was prompted by the many produce recalls over the …
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Food Safety
Getting Smarter About Food Safety
The FDA is initiating a new approach to smarter FOOD SAFETY that will use technology and other methods in order to create a more digitized traceable food system. Simplicity and modernization are also keys in the development of this “smarter food safety” along with effective leadership and additional education in the area of food safety …
Food Safety
Study Shows COVID-19 Not Transmitted by Food
Several weeks ago, while food shopping, I noticed a sign above where eggs are sold asking shoppers not to open egg cartons (to check for broken eggs) as touching the carton could enhance the spread of the Corona Virus. This inferred that the virus could be spread on packaging materials like an egg carton and …
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Food Safety
Truth and Transparency: Is Your Product Label “Clean” Enough for COVID Consumers?
In the food industry, there is really no definition for “clean label”, yet its importance cannot be underestimated. It has taken on even greater significance with the impact of COVID-19 and more buyer demand for truth and transparency. And the global market for “clean” labelled food sales this year will be worth $180 billion – …
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Food Safety
Export of Frozen Food to China Now Under Scrutiny
Earlier this month, Chinese officials advised that traces of the Coronavirus were found on chopping boards used for cutting imported frozen salmon at the Xinfadi market in Beijing. With 137 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Beijing, salmon was immediately removed from the supermarkets in major Chinese cities despite the fact that the National Health …
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Food Safety
Controlling Covid-19 Begins with Employee Safety
The FDA and USDA are working hard to keep people safe in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, both at home and in food processing facilities. We know that the virus is not transmissible via the food we eat, but rather transmits between people who are close to each other (within 6 ft), when an …
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Food Safety
What You Need to Know Today About Food Product Dating
With home cooking on the rise due to the recent COVID-19 quarantine, many people are taking the opportunity to clean their food storage areas and check the use-by dates on canned, dried and frozen products in pantries, refrigerators and freezers. However, due to lack of understanding, many consumers are unknowingly tossing out perfectly safe and …
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Food Safety
FDA Issues Temporary Policy Change for FSMA
On Sight Audit Requirements Due to COVID-19 On March 17, 2020, the FDA issued a temporary policy for the supplier verification onsite audit requirements as outlined in FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act). This has been enacted to minimize disruptions in the supply-chain due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions, at a time when grocery stores nationwide …
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Food Safety
Can the COVID-19 be transmitted thru food?
Today, Thursday, March 5th we got the following announcement from the American Frozen Food Institute https://affi.org/: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) are closely monitoring the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Last week, the FDA announced that there have been no …
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Food Safety
Costco Wholesale Corp Approved for VQIP Status
The FDA has just announced that Costco Wholesale Corporation is the first approved participant in the FDA’s VQIP – or Voluntary Qualified Importer Program. This is a voluntary fee-based program that provides importers an expedited review and import entry of both human and animal foods into the USA under FSMA, the Food Safety Modernization Act. …
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Food Safety
Validating Foreign Suppliers: The Basics and Red Flags
Read this article to get a link to the Quality Assurance and Food Saftey Magazine!
Food Safety
FSMA Warning to Importers
While attending the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but notice some blank stares when I asked various company representatives about being FSMA compliant. Now granted, many of these exhibitors were from different countries around the globe… but most spoke excellent English…so I don’t think it was a …
Food Safety
Plant Explosions & Selling Dead Pigs Food Safety and Worker Safety Continues to be a Problem in China
I was recently traveling in China and South East Asia and noticed a small article in the Global edition of CHINA DAILY dated Dec 4, 2019 and a similar one in the South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) of the same date. The headlines read: “Blast at Food Factory Kills Four, Injures 10” and “Four …
Food Safety
How Do I Develop My FSMA HARPC Plan?
In Chapter 1 of Nancy Scharlach’s new online food safety course, How to Convert HACCP Plans to FSMA Food Safety Plans (AKA HARPC Plans), she gets right to the core of how to do this with her step-by-step process. While there are many companies that already have a HACCP plan with many internal resources in …