Foodborne diseases are not a thing of the past, and food safety regulatory compliance is more important than ever. The FDA is continually working on finding new ways to deal with foodborne disease incidents. Here are the three most important things you have to know about food safety regulatory compliance so you can stay safe.
Focus is Shifting from Responding to Preventing Foodborne Illness
So far, the food safety system was built on the principles of a reactive model. Once a foodborne illness occurs, the FSMA inspects the case and introduces solutions. According to the FDA, FSMA is shifting focus from responding to preventing foodborne illnesses. The new proactive model will be able to prevent foodborne diseases and significantly reduce their incidence.
The goal of a new approach is to improve public health and facilitate the economic growth of the food system. Thus FSMA introduced a set of 7 rules that affect all parties involved in the global food supply chain:
- Accredited Third-Party Certification
- Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food
- Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals
- Foreign Supplier Verification Programs
- Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration
- Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food
- Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption
- Voluntary Qualified Importer Program
Product Quality & Safety Remain Primary Concerns
The global network of food trade is continuously expanding. All parties ranging from manufacturers and suppliers to distributors and logistics companies are facing the same challenges:
- Product safety (diversion, theft, and fraud)
- Product quality (delayed shipments, mistakes in the cold chain)
High Adoption Rate of Product Tracking Technology
The only possible solution to the challenges the food supply chain is facing comes in the form of real-time integrated monitoring (IM). These solutions allow all parties in the food supply chain to adhere to food safety regulatory compliance.
Rooted in state-of-the-art technology, traceability solutions will help companies track their products and entire shipments in real-time, thus ensuring compliance, visibility, continuity, and productivity. When companies know at all times where their products are, product safety and quality are easy to control.
Knowing these three facts about food safety regulatory compliance will help you re-assess risks and use the new solutions to respond accordingly and maintain compliance.
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