Staying a Step Ahead on Produce Safety
Understanding who — and what — is covered under the FDA Produce Safety Rule as well as your options when working with non-covered suppliers can help food manufacturers reduce the risk of receiving contaminated produce.
The FDA continues to make revisions and improvements to its Produce Safety Rule, with input from various stakeholders. One thing that is a constant drumbeat is that food growers and manufacturers need to do a better job of keeping consumers safe from foodborne illness arising from produce that was traditionally thought of by consumers as safe to eat (think spinach, romaine lettuce and red onions). Through the produce regulations (21 CFR 112.1-112.213), the FDA is attempting to come to grips with the seemingly endless parade of produce-based outbreaks, arming the food industry with an additional weapon for use in the constant battle with foodborne illness.
The regulations, broadly speaking, require farms of a certain size to develop processes relating to employee hygiene and training, agricultural water, biological soil amendments (compost, manure and the like), and buildings and equipment to decrease the risk of contamination of produce during growing, harvesting, packing and holding. But what does that mean for food manufacturers?
Read Jennifer's full article in FoodSafetyTech magazine.
