The Politics of Food Safety – Part Two

Hi everyone. Keeping with the theme of politics, our blog postings for the month of November are about food safety regulations. In the first blog, we provided background on agencies and their oversight for different foods. In this blog, we are covering elements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) that was signed into law January of 2011.

FSMA was heralded as significant food safety legislation as it enhanced and expanded regulatory oversight. FSMA consists of Seven Rules: Preventative Controls for Human and Animal Foods; Produce Safety Rule; Foreign Supplier Verification Programs; Accreditation of Third-Party Auditors/Certification Bodies; Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food; and Prevention of Intentional Contamination/Adulteration.

Most of these Rules affected production, processing, and transportation links of the food chain. While foodservices were not directly involved, you may have noted an uptick in fees or additional charges as implementation steps occurred for your suppliers.

However, for foodservices purchasing direct from local food producers, the Preventative Controls for Human Food (PC) and the Produce Safety Rule (PSR) may be familiar! The PC for Human Food requires facilities to be registered and a representative to attend an approved training program. This is similar for producers that must comply with the PSR. There are lists of approved trainings available from cooperative extension offices, state agriculture agencies, and FDA’s Regional Centers for FSMA (disclosure: I was involved with the North Central Regional [NCR] Center for FSMA compliance during the later years of my career at Iowa State University).

The PSR was significant because it was the first ever, mandatory federal standard for growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of fresh produce. The Rule established science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of covered fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption on a “farm”. Establishing the definition of what is a farm was quite a contentious process: “A primary production farm is an operation under one management in one general (but not necessarily contiguous) physical location devoted to the growing of crops, the harvesting of crops, the raising of animals (including seafood), or any combination of these activities”. So a produce grower who has a few acres of fruits and vegetables along with several hundred acres of corn or soybeans that will end up in food production, must comply with the PSR as the threshold of annual revenue from “the farm” is higher than the minimum for exemption.

The PSR established metrics for good agricultural practices (GAPs). The metrics include required testing for water (although details are still in flux) and documentation that controls to prevent risk from biological soil amendments, animals and wildlife, poor worker practices, and equipment and facilities are maintained. In general, the focus is on the environmental and human potential risks for contamination of produce, necessary because fresh produce doesn’t receive a kill step (cooking) before the food is served. The PSR identified a list of produce items rarely consumed raw; producers of these crops, such as sweet corn, are exempt from compliance with the Rule.

The PSR also allows exemption if average annual food sales to ‘qualified end users’ are below the threshold. A flow chart to determine whether the grower must comply with the PSR is available from FDA and from the NCR.

What struck me as I qualified as a Lead Trainer for the PSR curriculum, was that many of the new requirements formalized GAPs. Even if a grower is exempt from meeting the PSR, a buyer should be asking questions related to safety of the water used to irrigate and wash produce as well as practices to control from worker contamination of fruits and vegetables due to illness or poor hygiene practices. In foodservices, we know people shouldn’t work around food if they have certain symptoms or illnesses, but what about on the farm? A checklist to use when purchasing from local growers should be used if there is no regulatory oversight as this demonstrates the foodservice’s due diligence in ensuring the food is safe when it arrives at the operation. Direct purchasing can be a win-win as it supports local growers and allows the foodservice to showcase regional foods.

Effective procurement of food for retail operations depends on asking the right questions to ensure the right product is delivered at the right time for the right price. Knowing some of the regulations that form the first chapters in the story of food served in your operation can be helpful. The public trusts that most foods sold receive some level of oversight. That oversight may come from federal or state sources, or it may come from the foodservice. The goal is to protect the public’s health and the reputation of your foodservice. Risk Nothing!

If you have any questions or comments about food safety, please email our food safety experts at foodsafety@foodhandler.com

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Food Safety Considerations for the “New Way” of Dining, Part II – Back-of-house

In our first blog this month, we discussed the importance of front-of-house practices as we emerge from the pandemic this summer and into fall.   Making your guests feel safe will be an important point as we welcome them back to our establishment.  The safer they feel, the more likely they are to revisit and this could, in turn, be a competitive advantage for your business.

Food Safety Considerations for the “New Way” of Dining

Spring is my favorite time of year, as we head out of the winter months, welcome warmer weather, and increase the daylight hours.  As such, we turnover a new leaf and welcome new life as our grass, trees, and perennials come out of dormancy. This year as the Coronavirus vaccine continues its roll out and we welcome a third vaccine onto the market this morning, perhaps this spring we are turning over a ‘new leaf’ in a much more profound way, as we see light at the end of the Coronavirus tunnel.

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Developing Good Food Safety Habits

Good habits and habit development are something that has fascinated me for several years. If you’ve attended any the training programs or presentations that my colleagues and I have conducted through our Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs, you’ve likely heard me opine about the importance of habits and how habits are created. Many times, in foodservice operations we wonder why our staff don’t follow the food safety practices we have established in our operation. Perhaps they don’t wash their hands when they are required, perhaps they just don’t use the proper method of handwashing, or perhaps we find that they don’t complete our HACCP logs as often as our program dictates should occur. And while we can stomp our feet and say “it is their job, they should just do it”, it really isn’t that simple. We can’t order people to change, although if we could, business and human resources would be so much simpler.

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Getting Your Playbook for Food Safety Organized

As anyone who has ever worked in a foodservice operation knows, from the time food is received in your establishment to the time it is served to your customers, following proper food safety practices is crucial. What many don’t often think about is this time really should extend from the time the manager places their orders with their suppliers (including which purveyors you utilize), through the time the food is consumed – even if that consumption occurs off your premises and days after the original order was picked up by the guest. This is something that has certainly been highlighted by the pandemic as customers across the nation are utilizing take-out, curbside to go, and third-party delivery options more so now than ever before.