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Articles by Keyword - Food Safety
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Features: Critical Clues from Clams
When William Lyman Underwood (1864-1929) sought advice about swollen cans of food from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor William T. Sedgwick in late 1895, he planted the seed for research that would become the scientific underpinnings of canned food safety.
Departments: Keep Refrigeration Units Clean
The recent Listeria outbreak has brought to life a new set of questions for the retail food industry. One question involves the sanitation of refrigeration units. Commercial refrigeration/freezer units are the heart of every retail food business. Keeping these units cleaned and working properly ensures not only the safety but also the quality of each product.
Departments: Capitalize on Pest Technology
Technology is constantly changing the way we live our lives and conduct business. In the past, technological inventions like canned goods, pasteurization, and freeze drying allowed for widespread distribution of goods and long-lasting food preservation. These innovations in food processing supported a newly developing culture of convenience.
Departments: All Hands on Deck
An observational study conducted by the CDC that 8.6 hand washes by restaurant staff per employee hour were required to comply with the FDA’s Model Food Code.1 Consensus among both operators and regulators is that that is never going to happen. However, the study’s results beg the question: If 8.6 is the ideal safe level, what is the risk when hand washing frequency is, on average, 0.5 times per employee hour? Based on foodborne illness data and the increasing frequency of shuttered...
Departments: Fine Tune Your Compliance
HACCP systems have been required in a number of food manufacturing categories for many years and continue to expand as the standard model for all categories in the food industry and supply chain. Validation, an important component of HACCP Principle 6 verification, is not a new concept to the food industry. However, the subject of validation is not always well understood by those individuals who perform food safety and quality audits to determine compliance with current regulatory and industry standards.
Departments: The Lab Revolution
Now, more than ever, food manufacturers are looking to lab science for safe and speedy answers, especially when it comes to allergens. Food allergies are a public health liability that affects both business and the consumer. More than 12 million Americans have food allergies, and many more are underdiagnosed or ignored.
News: Key Points of FSMA
The FDA has been given the authority to issue a food recall directly, without the requirement for hard evidence of contamination. The agency is now empowered to seize food that it has any reason to believe is contaminated, adulterated, or misbranded. This change was designed to focus the FDA on prevention, moving away from its current reactive role. If the FDA issues a food recall, it also has power to suspend any food facility’s production should the agency decide that there is an associated health...
News: Nuts and Bolts of FSMA
Because a breakdown at any point in the farm-to-table food supply chain can threaten the health and safety of consumers and cause serious financial repercussions for food manufacturers, the FSMA integrates with and expands the FDA’s currently established safety practices for poultry, seafood, juice, produce, and eggs, making prevention easier throughout the domestic and international food system.
News: Bumpy Path to Food Safety
Under FSMA, enacted in January 2011, the FDA is responsible for mitigating food safety problems by using science- and risk-based approaches to oversee about 80% of the nation’s domestic and imported food supplies. The plan includes establishing minimum produce safety standards, exercising the authority to order mandatory recalls of suspected food products, conducting a broad range of food facility inspections, establishing a comprehensive product tracing system, holding imported food products to the...
Departments: Clean Up Your Act
With news of foodborne outbreaks surfacing practically every week, frantic searches for the culprits often boil down to one issue: cleanliness.
