IBIE - 2019 Special Edition & Show Preview - 63

FOOD SAFETY

LET'S TALK

FSMA

Landmark law rewrites the books on keeping food safe from pathogens and cross-contamination.

by M. Hikmet Boyacioglu, PhD

Access to a sufficient amount of safe and nutritious food
is key to sustaining life and promoting good health.
Unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances causes more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhea to cancers. And each year,
as many as 600 million people - almost one in 10 -
globally fall ill after consuming contaminated food, according to the World Health Organization.
Baking and snack industries are not immune to food
safety problems: salmonella and E. coli in flour, glyphosate in breakfast cereals and snacks, arsenic in infant rice
cereals, acrylamide in animal crackers, gluten in "glutenfree" products; the list goes on. "Baked goods have long
been considered 'low risk' when it comes to food safety.
But recent multi-state outbreaks involving everything
from raw flour to peanut butter and shredded coconut
have made it clear that salmonella, STEC E. coli and other dangerous pathogens can hide out in common baking ingredients, putting customers at risk," noted Sarah
Sorscher, deputy director of regulatory affairs at the
Center for Science in the Public Interest.
According to Julie Miller Jones, PhD, expert with
the Grain Foods Foundation and professor emerita at
St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN, food safety in
any operation is fundamental to success and is a farmto-fork activity. "Any hint of something that is amiss can
wipe out years of a stellar reputation," she said. "Climate
change, new ingredients or varietals, new or revised

processes, new suppliers and regions, and trends to- Even low levels of
ward clean labels and less processing require even great- salmonella found in
flour can cause illness
er vigilance."
when consumed.
stock.adobe.com

Responding to FSMA
Signed into law in 2011, the Food Safety Modernization
Act (FSMA) is the largest change in US food regulations since 1938 and enables the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to ensure food safety by preventing microbial contamination rather than reacting to an
already existing problem. The agency finalized seven
major rules to implement FSMA. These are designed to
clarify specific actions that must be taken at each point
in the global supply chain for human and animal food to
prevent contamination.
The rules include GMPs and hazard analysis and riskbased preventive controls for human and animal food.
They also require manufacturers to have accredited
third-party certification, foreign supplier verification
programs, mitigation strategies to protect food against
intentional adulteration, a voluntary qualified importer
program, and standards for growing, harvesting, packing and holding produce for human consumption. Food
manufacturers also must establish sanitary transportation of human and animal food.
"While members of the food industry are ultimately
responsible for getting the training they need to comply
with FSMA rules, FDA recognizes the importance of its

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