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With the COVID-19 pandemic’s classification as a Public Health Emergency comes to an end, temporary flexibilities granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to aid the food industry through the pandemic are set to expire. FDA has also issued a guidance for industry intended to help qualified exempt farms subject to the Produce Safety Rule with transitioning away from the temporary allowances.

There are no public health or food safety issues posed by popular non-nutritive sweetener steviol glycosides, according to a risk assessment conducted by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).

Hydrite is rebranding of its food safety training program with a new title and motto, “HYDRITE ACADEMY: TRAINING THE RITE WAY™.”  

Part of Food Safety Magazine’s series with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), titled, “Evolution of a New Era: Advancing Strategies for Smarter Food Safety,” this episode of Food Safety Matters discusses the research and application of behavior sciences with retail foodservice employees and regulatory agencies that help reduce foodborne illness risk factors.

In Canada, reported cases of foodborne illness caused by certain pathogens decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent study.

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we talk with Donald A. Prater, D.V.M., the Acting Director of the Office of Food Policy and Response (OFPR) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Associate Commissioner for Imported Food Safety at OFPR. Dr. Prater discusses the work he has overseen regarding import food safety, particularly for fresh produce and seafood; food safety culture; and smarter tools and technologies for data-gathering and data-sharing.

The majority of food allergen recalls are caused by preventable labeling errors, according to a recent analysis of recall data for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) –regulated products.

To improve the food safety culture of an organization, it is critical that a key focus be the frontline employees. A proven tool to improve frontline employee engagement in effective food safety behaviors is the concept of "nudging"—a regular cadence of small, easily controlled, and easily taken actions to make a change process more effective, manageable, and sustainable. This article will showcase real-life examples of nudging and share successful examples.

The questions about the safety of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) are complicated. This article outlines why CEA safety depends on understanding and properly addressing the challenges of combining agricultural and ready-to-eat (RTE) into a single facility. It also addresses why CEA is not inherently safe. Ultimately, this article will show how the risk profile of CEA must be compared to that of other RTE produce and that there is no universal answer to the question of CEA safety.

The food safety management program in a foodservice business should be periodically benchmarked against the most current regulatory requirements and best-in-class food safety standards to determine if gaps exist in the program. The gap analysis should be performed by a third party to ensure an unbiased benchmark, and include a review of the corporate governance, systems/specifications, training/education, supply chain management, foodservice operations, and facilities design. The food safety management team should coordinate and review all deficiencies with an action plan prioritized to the level of risk identified.