GFC

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

The White House announced this week that they will launch a new website for the President's "Food Safety Working Group."    While not yet launched (April 30 am), stay tuned and book mark it for future reference.

Offered BY SGS
Learn the best practices and pitfalls of implementing BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 5. Know the details of the new Issue 5 and how to combine its parallel requirements with those of others such as ISO 22000.  

Next course June 9th or listen to April 30th webinar - archived.

SGS SEMINAR REGISTRATION HERE

Being in the slow line for shipping perishable products only reduces product yield to you and your buyer.

The slow line will essentially be shippers who do not already have in place a TSA approved system for shipping anything that goes unaccompanied on a passenger aircraft. 

If you want to learn more - read on.   PJ Cranmer, Commodity Forwarders, Alaska Station Manager and GFC Member shared some udates on 2009 shipping facts.

Webinar: Meet Global Food Safety Standards and Increase Productivity Subscribe  Food safety concerns are enough to bring a company to the media's attention. The introduction of standards such as IFS, ISO 22000, BRC and SQF2000 require food companies to make their manufacturing processes transparent and as safe as possible. Learn, how METTLER TOLEDO can support you in the area of traceability, hygienically designed equipment, quality data management, foreign body detection and equipment qualification and calibration and at the same time increase your productivity.
Moderators:
Stephan Tromp, Managing Director IFS (International Food Standard)
Urs Berli, Market Manager Food, METTLER TOLEDO

Offered in English -- April 27
German --May 14 and May 27