Food Safety Top Stories

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There are two big game-changers for improving food allergen safety: more effective food labeling, as well as risk assessments to understand the severity and frequency of allergic reactions. Identifying, prioritizing, and standardizing the list of major food allergens across global borders will help protect people everywhere living with allergies.

The IFT FIRST event offered several key takeaways impacting food safety, from topics and issues surrounding supply chain disruption and innovation to data standards and contaminants.

The backbone of innovation relies on what some call the "underbelly" of the industry: sanitation. Many would agree that sanitation is the most fundamental aspect of an operation's ability to consistently produce high-quality, safe food. But how much does our industry really know about sanitation as a whole?

Food companies are struggling with recall execution and communication, stemming from a patchwork of regulations. Three key issues confront industry due to this fragmentation of the recall system. The path to more effective recalls, in simple terms, is to standardize and streamline the existing system and utilize modern technology to circulate pertinent information.

Global Seafood Alliance's Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) label is the most comprehensive third-party certification system in the industry. It covers the entire aquaculture production chain and follows the four pillars of responsible seafood: environmental responsibility, social accountability, food safety, and animal health and welfare. 

Traditionally, food safety issues associated with alcoholic beverages focus on chemical or physical hazards from the processing line. Intoxication with alcoholic beverages, as it relates to food safety, is less reported in the literature. However, the addition of cheap methanol to illicitly produced liquor—a rising issue in Asia—is increasingly being studied as a food safety and food adulteration issue.

This article examines control strategies for Clostridium botulinum in fresh-cut produce and the line between good manufacturing practices (GMPs) and C. botulinum control in the food safety plan.

Panelists Christian Blyth (Pathogen Specialist, 3M Canada), Marie Tanner (Senior Vice President of Quality, Dairy Farmers of America), and Lone Jespersen, Ph.D. (Cultivate SA) discuss three features that are prominent in North America's food safety culture: diversity of thought, proactive risk-based approach, and high adaptability. 

Recyclable. Recycled content. Compostable. Made from bio-materials. Which of these makes for the safest, most sustainable package? These can be misleading questions, especially when it comes to food packaging. Many sustainable packaging goals and trends can affect food safety work. Also, the concept of food safety as the primary element in sustainable packaging decisions must logically flow through an organization from the top down, through the key relevant vertical groups.

To lead from the local level for food safety, top executives must empower and authorize leaders to solve issues like food safety culture. The technical food safety team is best situated for this task. To build a sustainable food safety culture, it is essential to start with shifting and building the mindset of the technical leadership and honoring the well-being of this team.