With nearly 500 food safety recalls occurring per year, it is difficult for consumers to keep up. Prevention of foodborne illness—the main goal of the nonprofit organization Stop Foodborne Illness—can be aided by the establishment of a faster, more efficient, and modernized recall system.
Food safety is an active and ever-evolving process that is ripe for ongoing improvement. There are three main tools for building and transforming a company's food safety program: fundamentals, prevention, and culture. In recent years, Kerry has focused heavily on building a solid foundation—the "fundamentals." Effective communication is critical throughout the entire process and becomes the fourth building block.
Food safety has always been an important issue, but like workplace health and safety, its profile is growing and must be viewed as a business essential.
Soon, companies producing or handling foods on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Food Traceability List will be required to generate and maintain more detailed records under the proposed rule that aims to supercharge the traceability of foods. Traceability is a joint responsibility, and standardized data systems are the key to sharing supply chain details between stakeholders in a timely and efficient manner.
The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance's quality assurance plan, Identity Preserved, benefits global food manufacturers by meeting growing demand for transparency in the food production supply chain and by ensuring the origin, quality, consistency, and safety of food crops.
Reducing food waste is imperative for fighting world hunger, and technologies to reduce food waste can also help improve food safety, quality, and shelf life.
The culture of a facility in food safety or customer relations is impacted by how customer communications are managed. Customer complaint trending and response are part of a company or facility's risk management strategy. The objective of any management system is to try to protect the company from adverse actions. Understanding and responding to customer complaints is one strategy.
The authors and collaborating food safety experts have delineated several unique features in Australia around food safety and quality: intimate collaborations across sectors and functions, "walk the talk," and skills and capacity building.