The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has developed a new tool for use by FSIS-regulated companies, known as Food Defense and Recall Preparedness: A Scenario-Based Exercise Tool. This scenario-based tool highlights the importance of having a voluntary functional food-defense plan and written recall procedures. The tool identifies key components of a food-defense plan and recall procedures that are relevant to an organization's business. The exercise is designed to be completed within an hour’s time.

FSIS is hosting webinars for industry this month and next month to explain the tool's purpose and to demonstrate how to use it. The webinars are planned for:

• Wednesday, Feb. 19, at 10 a.m. ET
• Friday, March 14, at 11 a.m. ET

Interested parties can register for the webinars at https://webtraining.rti.org/fsis. Questions regarding the tool and the webinars can be directed to nick.bauer@fsis.usda.gov.

The tool is available for free download via this link.