Many organizations continue to approach food safety primarily as a compliance exercise rather than as an embedded part of everyday operations. This article considers an approach where HACCP is treated as an active and evolving management system rather than an annual event.
From hazard prevention and statistical process control to predictive maintenance and downtime reduction, key strategies separate consistently safe, high-output facilities from those that merely pass audits
June 29, 2026
Food manufacturing operates at a pressure point where biological risk, regulatory obligation, mechanical complexity, and human performance converge simultaneously.
As it stands, the bill would mandate that USDA provide guidance on HACCP plans to small and very small meat processors, require USDA and FDA to define “honey” and establish honey authenticity testing standards, and initiate other directives.
In the first of this two-part episode series recorded live from the show floor of the 2026 Food Safety Summit, we interviewed Summit speakers from the regulatory and industry spheres about topics discussed during their respective sessions, including retail/foodservice sanitation and culture, digital HACCP, cross-sector data-sharing, and more.
The guideline is designed to help small and very small plants producing egg products meet the regulatory requirements under the Egg Products Inspection Regulations Final Rule, including sanitation and HACCP requirements.
Monitoring and recordkeeping are the heart of HACCP. Records demonstrate that the program is being properly managed and that the established critical limits are being met, providing supporting data to show that the processor is producing safe foods.
Considering advice previously offered by NACMPI, stakeholder feedback will help inform whether FSIS moves forward with proposed changes to the current establishment size categorization scheme under the HACCP Final Rule to better reflect current industry conditions and improve regulatory effectiveness.
In this episode of Food Safety Matters, Richard Stier, M.S., a consulting food scientist and longtime Food Safety Magazine contributor, recalls lessons from decades in food processing facilities, discussing crisis preparedness, internal audits, facility sanitation and employee hygiene, HACCP, and why strong food safety programs must be continuously improved to remain effective.
To assist establishments in meeting food safety regulatory requirements, USDA-FSIS has released a new, generic Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) model for ready-to-eat (RTE) fermented, salt-cured, and dried products.