GFC

Date: June 29, Tuesday 2010 
Time: 10:00 AM PDT | 01:00 PM EDT
Duration: 60 Min
Instructor: Dr. John Ryan
Location: Your office or conference room (no need to travel!)

Which food suppliers represent high risk? Which ones are likely to cause an outbreak associated with E. coli or salmonella? Should your company buy from high risk suppliers? How do you know which suppliers are high risk suppliers? These are the types of concerns wholesalers have about farm suppliers, retailers have about wholesalers and processors have about both. Where do buyers go to determine the food safety level of suppliers?

We invited the US Food Safety Inspection Service to respond to questions about the proposed new food safety rule and its impact on small and medium food producers. 

 
CI: Our readers are generally small and medium business involved in food and beverage manufacturing and getting those products to market.    They are generally busy doing what they do best - producing product for their customers.    Can you tell us briefly, what they should be prepared to expect in terms of new laws and regulations?      (Complete response by selecting article title above.)

Global Food Collaborative's, Preferred Partner, Compliance On-Line Offers

Best Selling Food Compliance Webinars Available on CDs

Here's flat 20% discount on the purchase of CD versions from the Following Food Compliance trainings. Offer ends April 30th

• HACCP Principles for Food Processors    
• Improving Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures In the Food Industry    
• Basic USDA and FDA Food Labeling: Learn to Create Labels in Compliance with Regulations and Understand the Essential Elements of Labels    
• ISO 22000-HACCP Food Safety Management Systems-Requirements for any organization in the food chain  
• Food Recalls - Planning and conducting a Food Recall and Crisis Communication
• Record Keeping for a food Recall: Keeping Records to Minimize the Affect of a Recall   
• Food Labeling 101: A Basic Guide for Manufacturers, Importers, and Label Designers   
• HACCP in a Real World Environment   
• Allergen Control Strategies for Food Manufacturers

  
Please contact us to know more and avail this service. email: editor@complianceonline.com
or call: +1-650-620-3937

Trace Register, Norpac Fisheries Export Ink Deal for Traceable Longline-Caught Seafood

          
(Seattle, Wash.) April 15, 2010 --Trace Register, LLC, the global food traceability company (www.traceregister.com), and Honolulu-based Norpac Fisheries Export (www.norpacexport.com), the export arm of one of the world’s most environmentally conscious long-line fishing fleets, have signed a deal to use the Trace Register® system to verify the vessel and origin of several commercially caught pelagic (ocean-dwelling) species from the Western Pacific.  The species include Bigeye Ahi (tuna), Opah, Monchong, and others that are sold under Norpac’s Hawaiian Select® label.
 
Trace Register Vice President Andy Furner said both companies recognize the importance of using electronic chain traceability as a tool to validate the legality of the fish.  “In an era of illegal, unreported, and unregulated—IUU--fishing, buyers and environmental groups have become increasingly concerned about finding ways to end the piracy of the common resource,” Furner said.  “Trace Register offers such a system, and we congratulate Norpac on taking the lead in this arena.”
 
Thomas Kraft of Norpac Fisheries Export said, “We are proud to have developed and implemented a robust traceability platform that has been in place since 2004, and to now be participating with Trace Register to promote sustainable harvest practices and good environmental stewardship.”  He pointed out that Norpac uses Circle Hooks, Bird Scare lines, Deep Set Fishing Technology and “Best Practices” as an “integral part of our philosophy regarding corporate responsibility within the communities we serve and the ocean environment from which we harvest.”   
 
Norpac joins early adopters such as Trident Seafoods, Kwik’pak Fisheries, and the Aquaculture Certification Council in providing leading retailers, global seafood processors, marketers, certifiers, and restaurant operators the electronic chain traceability to support environmental sustainability programs.
 
Trace Register has grown more than 350 percent in the past year, Furner said, largely because many organizations now recognize that having traceability in place helps protect them against many risks, including being in violation of international and U.S. fishery law.

Related Article:  Confidence In What You Are Buying

Courses For Food Manufacturers  

21-Apr-10  Electronic Record Keeping - eSignatures: 21 CFR Part 11 Record Keeping for Food, Dairy, and Beverage

28-Apr-10  Facilities Sensor Technology in Food Safety Measurement: Closed-Loop Contamination Control Systems

29-Apr-10  Maintaining Food Safety and Customer Satisfaction through effective Specification Development and Implementation

20-May-10  Improving Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures In the Food Industry

http://www.COMPLIANCEONLINE.com

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With the U.S. Congress back in session, there is hope that work on food safety legislation will soon pick up steam.  One of the issues that will be part of that discussion is "traceability."  In the food safety context, the term is meant to refer to the ability to track specific food within the chain of distribution, preferably from "farm to fork."

Entire Article At Food Safety News Here

Missed this meeting?   Catch up on the program remarks and presentationsl below.

AGENDA, Improving Product Tracing of Foods: More Rapid Outbreak Response

Opening remarks by Jerold Mande, Deputy Under Secretary For Food Safety, FDA

FDA/FSIS joint public meeting on product tracing. December 9-10, 2009
Washington, DC

Experts listed below with panel presentations linkage.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    -  November 18, 2009

Senate Health Panel Approves Food Safety Bill That Includes Murkowski Initiatives Involving Seafood Safety and Bush Food Shipments

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee today approved comprehensive food safety legislation that includes provisions by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, pertaining to seafood safety and food shipments to rural and frontier areas, including the Alaskan Bush.
 
The bill, approved unanimously by the HELP Committee, would address recent events concerning unsafe and tainted foods, including contaminated spinach with E. Coli and peanut butter laced with Salmonella. The legislation would give the Food and Drug Administration new authorities and resources to tackle food safety problems and update food safety standards to ensure the security of our food supply.
 
“Despite the fact that we have one of the finest food safety systems in the world, there have been all too many cases of food-borne illnesses throughout the country in recent years,” Murkowski said. “I am glad to see that we were able to pass out of the HELP Committee a strong, bipartisan overhaul of our food safety system that would place greater emphasis on prevention of food-borne illness and give the FDA the tools it needs to better ensure that our food supply is safe.”
 
One of Murkowski’s amendments would direct the FDA to update the Fish and Fisheries Products Hazards and Control Guidance, which assists seafood processors in the development of their Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans.
 
“As a process control system, HACCP identifies where hazards might occur in the food production process and puts in place stringent actions that will prevent hazards from occurring,” Murkowski said. “By strictly monitoring and controlling each step of the process, there is less chance for hazards to occur.”
 
The guidance was last updated in 2001, and Murkowski’s amendment would require the FDA to update the HACCP guidance within six months of enactment.
 
Based on outbreak information and new scientific developments, some aspects of the 2001 guidance are no longer valid,” Murkowski said. “We’ve been waiting three years to get updated guidance, and my amendment would hold the FDA accountable for ensuring that this happens in six months.”
 
Murkowski’s second amendment would direct the FDA to do a study on transportation of food for consumption in rural and frontier areas, which includes most of Alaska and its villages.
 
“I heard from a number of constituents at my health care town hall events this past summer about the need to ensure our food safety throughout Alaska and particularly in our rural areas,” Murkowski said. “It is difficult to transport fresh foods and perishable foods to the Bush. Consequently, there is a high spoilage factor and risk of food-borne illness with these foods. This study would allow for Alaska and other rural areas to better understand safety issues related to the transportation of food in rural and frontier areas.”

Contact: Michael Brumas 202.224.9301
or Robert Sumner 202.224.8069