On November 26th, 2012 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suspended the food facility registration of Sunland, Inc., a New Mexico producer of peanut butter and peanut products due to a “reasonable belief” that their products had sickened some consumers with a strain of Salmonella.  This marks the first time that FDA has leveraged this new enforcement authority given to it under the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).  Under the FSMA, FDA can suspend the … READ MORE

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It’s that time of year again… Time for another FSMA deadline! The pressure is on for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to meet yet another critical date with multiple deadlines imposed by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).  Every 6 months a deadline rolls around and every 6 months FDA has stumbled past it with varying degrees of success in delivering what Congress instructed.  This July 4th is another such deadline with multiple important FSMA items due.  Whereas it might be expected to stir up some panic … READ MORE

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Technology is central to the success (or even existence) of FDA’s food tracking and tracing pilot currently underway as part of FSMA’s new authority grant to the Agency.  If you have not read our first blog about the pilot conducted by FDA and IFT please read that here now.  What the statute accurately communicates but vastly underestimates is the difficulty and scale of the role of technology in the successful development of the program.   Sec. 204 2(B) of FSMA states that FDA … READ MORE

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently unveiled a new pilot program studying tracking and tracing technologies for high-risk foods. The pilot is contemplated in Sec. 204 of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a legislative initiative aiming at reducing foodborne outbreaks and increasing the FDA’s ability to quickly identify and report outbreaks to the American public. In a post on the FDA’s Transparency Blog, Sherri McGarry, Senior Adviser, Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network Office of Foods at FDA, communicated her view of the importance of this pilot; “When a foodborne outbreak occurs, it is up to … READ MORE

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Recent statements from the CDC regarding food safety trends and statistics have been wildly reductionist and inconclusive. But they do provide us with hints about the future direction of federal government thinking with respect to managing food safety risks: Food tracking and supply chain tracing.

Enter the Digital Database Savior

“We need better – and more – information about what foods are causing outbreaks and where those foods are coming from,” said Hannah Gould, CDC epidemiologist, in a recent presentation. “Knowing more … READ MORE

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