Small food manufacturers, defined as those with less than 500 full-time employees, have experienced significant challenges to operate and supply food during the COVID-19 pandemic. To better support small manufacturers in Georgia, the University of Georgia Marine Extension and the Georgia Sea Grant conducted free, onsite COVID-19 assessments at seven seafood processing/distributing facilities through the first five months of 2021. Completed assessment reports and recommendations are summarized in this article. Manufacturers demonstrated remarkable adaptability to protect workers and avoid closing, despite supply shortages and continually changing public health guidance.

Small food manufacturers have experienced significant challenges to operate and supply food during the COVID-19 pandemic. Free, onsite COVID-19 assessments conducted at seven seafood processing/distributing facilities through the first five months of 2021 revealed manufacturers' remarkable adaptability to protect workers and avoid closing, despite supply shortages and continually changing public health guidance.

Advances in information technology, rapid advances in diagnostic sensitivity, and shifting regulatory requirements are changing the nature of food safety, while macroeconomic trends like globalization, competitive consolidation, and maturation of the industry are altering the structure of the markets. These trends are colliding with shorter-term disruptions like the economic recovery from COVID-19, inflation, and the war in Ukraine, making the near-term future difficult to see.

After conducting new research on the survival of the COVID-19 virus on food and food packaging, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has determined that, while the likelihood of catching the virus from food varies by surface type, the risk is “very low” overall.

A study led by University of Georgia (UGA) researchers found that SARS-CoV-2 can persist and remain infectious on the surface of frozen berries for at least 28 days.

With the COVID-19 pandemic (hopefully) solidly in the rearview mirror, we wanted to find out what projects and initiatives food companies are focusing on for the rest of this year and into 2023. We heard from more than 200 food processors in every major category. They reported a wide-ranging wish list of projects and priorities, with improving their food safety culture, more training, improving their supply chain management (especially with their foreign suppliers), and improving their sanitation and environmental monitoring programs at the top of the list.

A recent study suggests that the cold foods supply chain is the optimal environment for the COVID-19 virus to spread over long distances. The study explores various prevention and testing methods that could be used to mitigate the pathogen’s spread through cold-chain foods.

As the issues related to COVID-19 continue to subside and more restrictions are lifted, will we see food companies return to business travel, including in-person meetings and food conferences? We asked more than 250 companies about their travel plans for 2022 and beyond to find out. Our survey found a wide variety of policies depending on the company, the location of the travel, and the purpose of the trip.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically disrupted the food supply. This article seeks to explain the transcendent lessons of this national emergency, with the hope that being aware of them will help national decision-makers better prepare for next time. Our food systems, like the larger supply chain, will be challenged in the future with new kinds of disruptions, making it essential that mistakes are not repeated and that proactive, correct solutions are discovered and preparations made now.

Supply chain is critical to any food safety program. Having full control and traceability of raw materials and end products is no longer an option, but rather a requirement. In the past two years, the pandemic has exposed new weaknesses and made visible the business risks posed by an unstable supply chain.