Guidelines

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On November 10, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the National Security Memorandum-16 (NSM-16), which aims to strengthen the security and resilience of the U.S. food supply and agricultural systems. NSM-16 focuses on threats such as climate change, supply chain disruption, cyberattacks, worker safety and workplace development, and other topics.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is encouraging countries around the world to adopt e-notification systems to bolster food safety, and has released a publication to support such efforts, titled, Technical Guidance for the Implementation of E-Notification Systems for Food Control.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently published a draft guidance that will clarify how FDA evaluates the public health risk of food allergens that are not one of the major nine food allergens identified by law in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

The Codex Alimentarius Committee has drafted a new guidance for the management of microbiological foodborne illness outbreaks at the recent Committee on Food Hygiene meeting.

Understanding the types of violations observed during inspections is a requirement for correctly citing a violation and providing quality feedback to the facility operator. Breakdowns in this chain of communication can lead to additional inspections and possible enforcement actions, which waste valuable time, money, and effort. To ensure that this chain is firm, inspectors are provided with access to training and continuing education, as needed, to properly identify violations and apply their guiding regulations.

To improve food safety and reduce the risk of foodborne illness related to meal kits, it is important to evaluate operations with a farm-to-fork lens, ensuring not just the safety of the meal kit itself but also promoting proper handling and preparation by the customer.