Transparency and Collaboration Key to Advancing Food Safety By Tim Hartter, Project Manager, Corporate Project Services, Wenger Manufacturing, Inc.
each year in the United States, that’s one in six exposed and sickened
The industry needs to keep getting better at food safety.
by food contaminants. Among them, 10,000 are hospitalized and
We do need to develop industry-wide best practices for food safety;
3,000 die because of the illness.
but finding what is best for today is not an end goal. It must go beyond
The CDC estimates 48 million people suffer from food borne illnesses
Statistics like this make it no surprise that food safety is a top
achieving best-practice level. It’s about continuous improvement.
priority for anyone involved in food production; everyone from farmers to food manufacturers and regulators, and every other entity within that food value chain. For a division like Corporate Project Services and the broader company we’re part of, Wenger Manufacturing, we do not manufacture the food, but we manufacture the equipment and create the processes that do. Food safety is a top priority for our clients so it’s a priority for us. In 2011 and in response to several extensive food recalls, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rolled out the new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the first major federal food safety legislation since 1938, and the only legislation to date that encompassed food for both humans and animals. As a result of this new law, rules surrounding human and animal food safety had some bite for the first time ever, quickly propelling food safety to become a focal point for companies that produce these products.
While food contamination may never be eradicated completely, as an industry our role is to implement methods that ensure contamination is not a direct result of negligence or process errors. We must work constantly to eliminate chances for errors that allow contamination to occur. We do this because it’s the right thing to do, but these steps are also required for food manufacturers to stay in business. CPS has process know-how to help clients navigate these challenges. Today, food manufacturers must have an effective food safety program in place, so we’re here to support the development of these programs. Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) auditors, FDA and USDA inspectors will be onsite conducting checks, so we help clients make sure their programs, practices and procedures are effective in an effort to prepare them for audits.
Food safety should not be a competitive advantage. There is much at stake, not the least of which is the seriously
In today’s environment, food safety is a complex issue that all
detrimental effect these crises have on a company’s reputation. And in
companies must address.
a day when social media can magnify a negative story into a worldwide
There is a critical need for more transparency. In many cases,
frenzy in a matter of minutes, there’s no margin for error.
industry has knowledge and expertise that can enable FDA to better
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Pet Food Supplement 2021
