Fish and shellfish farm-raised in the U.S. must meet rigorous standards for food safety and quality, as well as environmental impact. Seafood processors, packers, and warehouses comply with the mandatory requirements of the Food and Drug Administration's Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). This article takes a deep dive into the many regulations that make U.S. farm-raised seafood one of the safest, healthiest, and most sustainable foods available to the consumer.
During a Tuesday afternoon workshop of the 2022 Food Safety Summit, regulators and the regulated industry shared suggestions for how to better communicate together and meet regulated requirements while maintaining a sensible level of operational necessity.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) has released a new HACCP Model for certain meat and poultry products that receive a full lethality heat process step.
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.
For all the food safety benefits that Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and preventive controls have brought us, perhaps public health would be better served if companies put the most effort toward managing their greatest risks instead of thinking of risk in yes/no terms.
From here we will go into the steps of building the plan to protect customers and consumers from food safety hazards and prevent damage to brand equity and company reputation. Of course, we’ll discuss the qualifications for writing the plan as well as confirm it is also for regulatory conformance; but the first two are the primary motivation for the plan.