The 2023 International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Canada brought together more than 3,200 food safety professionals from 53 countries to confer on a variety of topics including cutting-edge research, government updates, emerging issues, and areas of interest affecting the food industry. One notable roundtable featured a discussion on food safety concerns during the new product development (PD) process. The panel of experts included food safety leaders from two global food production companies, a university food science associate professor, a food attorney, and a science advisor from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
These representatives from government, academia, and industry have previous PD experience in various capacities and were able to share insight into this process. Highlights included discussion on the challenges and strategies employed to ensure that food safety considerations are built into this process. Other topics touched on product formulation, packaging, storage/distribution, shelf life, and intended use, which are key attributes that influence the severity and likelihood of food safety hazards. These variables must be carefully considered at each step in the PD process to minimize risk by engineering safety into new products. Thoughtful product development takes time, and companies are often under extreme pressure to expedite this process and quickly take products from the conceptual phase to commercialization. Everyone at the roundtable agreed that having a robust PD process builds control into the process so that food safety variables are properly considered, vital steps are not skipped, and approvals are streamlined to maximize efficiency.