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This article explores how having respect for people and fully engaging employees can transform a company's culture of food safety.

Today's food laboratories remain largely free of regulatory oversight. That is about to change with the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) issuance of a final rule establishing a program for the testing of food, in certain circumstances, by accredited laboratories. Not only does this final rule provide specific quality standards and assurances to a segment of food testing, but it also opens the door for all laboratories to adhere to these essential elements.

The authors and collaborating food safety experts have identified four predominant features around food safety culture in European cultures. These features include mixed attitudes toward the adoption of new ideas as food safety management changes, active engagement in food safety and quality, consensual decision-making, and a prevailing dependence on internal drive (as opposed to regulatory dictation) in fostering food safety culture.

This column will expand on the findings of the FDA study of the economic evaluation of the GenomeTrakr whole genome sequencing (WGS) program, adding data on the use of sequencing and how it will continue to change food safety practices and markets. It will also discuss what FDA is doing with GenomeTrackr to uncover previously unseen outbreaks and how this is keeping pressure on processors to expand environmental monitoring and controls.

This article addresses the sources, risk, and management of marine biotoxins found in molluscan shellfish and methods to identify contaminated shellfish meat before marketing. The authors also present an update to the online learning module developed to provide current National Shellfish Sanitation Program marine biotoxin management requirements for molluscan shellfish intended for interstate commerce.

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.

The Codex Committee on Hygiene is in the process of revising the general principles of Hygiene (Codex, 2020). This document was first published in 1969. Codex has published the body of the text and most of the diagrams; however, the Decision Tree is still under review by the Codex Committee.  

When regulatory stakeholders effectively collaborate at the local, state, and federal levels and understand each other’s roles, resources, and authorities, food recalls can be processed more efficiently. This results in a more agile recall response down to the consumer level, benefitting everyone in the farm-to-fork continuum and potentially reducing additional exposures and illnesses.

While the food safety testing industry has evolved over several decades, the testing of regulated hemp and Cannabis products has existed for only a handful of years. Despite being legal in 36 states and four U.S. territories, marijuana is not legal at the federal level, which creates dramatic differences in regulatory requirements.

This article provides insights into audit success, presents some ways to reduce findings, and offers some pointers to auditors on what elements to watch for in a well-functioning sanitation team.