Food Safety Technologies and Compliance
Food safety
technologies have come to play an increasingly critical role in securing a safe
and reliable global supply chain. Food safety regulations worldwide have become
both more stringent and more detailed in their requirements. The end result is that in many respects,
national and regional regulatory systems, reinforced by international
standards, are driving the technologies themselves. For instance, China has just passed 154
amendments to the Basic Food Safety Law which, itself, had 104 provisions, many
of which introduce compliance standards and enforcement measures. FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act),
considered in the forefront of model national regulatory systems, focuses on prevention;
inspections; compliance and response; imports; and enhanced partnerships. Looking at preventative controls alone, FSMA
calls for the introduction of HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control
point) systems. This means food manufacturing plants need to
put in place process, allergen, and sanitation controls plus a monitoring
system and recall plan. To ensure
reliability of the system in place, the food industry must have access to
verification instrumentation.
Looking at FSVP (Foreign Supplier
Verification Program) under FSMA, equivalency is the norm so that foreign
suppliers must be able to conduct science-based verification that their product
imported, in this case to the US, is safe.
The list goes on. With international standards intended as the
norm, other national systems such as the EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and
Feed under EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) is designed to secure
compliance with European standards, long considered among the toughest in the
world. The implementation of all such
systems is dependent on appropriate technologies. We have, thus, witnessed a synchronization
between regulatory requirements and the introduction of new food safety
technologies. Together, they form the
risk mitigation architecture for food safety in the global supply chain. The lead chapter in GFSF’s White Paper issued
on May 1, co-authored by Daniel Unruh, Justin Kastner and Abbey Nutsch from
Kansas State University, notes that the 1996 HACCP rule led to steam
pasteurization prevention and that a
recent EU food labelling regulation resulted in the introduction of new “use-by
date” modelling software systems. Lauryn Bailey and Laura Baker of SCIEX
write in the same GFSF publication, “Modern food and beverage testing has advanced into a rigorous practice
carried out on precision, state-of-the-art instruments that supply critical
information about contaminant levels in all types of food and drink – from
farm-fresh produce to factory-prepared foods.”
In conjunction with the evolving global
structure of the food and feed industries, pathogen controls face new
challenges. Pathogens, of course, know
no territorial borders. Prevention norms and controlling outbreaks and
contagions require an increasing level of sophistication in detection. Technology, once again, has risen to the
occasion. PCR (polymerase chain
reaction) kits shorten the detection period and reduce the cost of lab reviews
under ELISA (enzyme linked immunoabsorbent assay) methods which may require up
to a week for conclusive results.
This year’s
annual Beijing Summit, June 13-14, hosted by the Global Food Safety Forum
(GFSF), centers on the role of technology in regulatory compliance and the
breakthrough technologies that are in place to meet new challenges. On the 14th, there will be an an
e-course demonstration and a second
session on new insurance products for food safety liability and recall
contamination directed to Chinese suppliers and international buyers.
Eric Wu,
Director of Global Food Safety Forum, pointed out that this year’s Summit goes
beyond the standard conference. “We’ve
worked to create a learning environment that addresses the integral link
between food safety regulation and technology developments to secure a more
reliable food supply chain for our future.” For further information, registration and
sponsorships, please click on the GFSF conference website: http://asansbury.wix.com/conference-2015 as well as the
GFSF site: http://www.globalfoodsafetyforum.org . You are also
invited to contact Eric Wu at ericwu@gicgroup.com or Rick
Gilmore at rickgilmore@gicgroup.com.
