This article provides an overview of the status of the rules and regulations regarding nutritional labeling of food packaged at the global level and its impact on consumers' understanding. New and consumer-friendly proposed solutions (e.g., Nutri-Score, also known as the five-color nutrition label) are also presented.
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.
In our last column, we revisited some of the testing-related topics we have covered since the inception of Food Safety Insights. This article looks at a few of the other subjects that have made an impact on our markets in these past 5 years.
Considerations for how ingredients will be sourced, inspected, segregated, and processed may impact the quality and safety of the finished product. It is important for food product developers to consult not only their procurement partners but also their food safety and quality partners to use ingredients from reliable and trustworthy suppliers from the beginning.
The Retail Food Safety Regulatory Association Collaborative has worked to develop diverse strategic priorities, such as improving the regulatory approach, competency, and food safety culture in the regulatory community and enhancing the sharing of best practices among retail food protection partners.