SafetyChain Blog

As the year ends, reflecting on the food industry trends that have shaped 2018 can be helpful in preparing for FSMA developments that we expect to unfold in 2019. Below, we’ve collected a few of the most noteworthy FSMA focus areas to help your food company approach the new year.

The FSMA Intentional Adulteration (IA) rule establishes requirements for preventing or significantly minimizing acts intended to cause wide-scale public health harm. It uses a HACCP-type approach, but includes important differences from the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule. For companies with 500 or more full-time employees, the compliance date for the rule is swiftly approaching, and is slotted for July 26, 2019.

Real-time data empowers food manufacturers and processors to make smarter, faster decisions. Through food quality management systems, food and beverage companies gain visibility into all of their operations for a comprehensive overview of what’s going on at any given minute. This makes it easier to spot and respond to red flags before they become major issues, uncover and address performance issues, and reduce costs with the help of automation.

Data intelligence enhances the visibility, knowledge, and control within food and beverage facilities. While there is a great deal of data being produced within these companies, oftentimes it is not being used to its fullest potential. Not using real-time data hinders your visibility, putting your company at a greater risk for non-compliance, fines, failed audits, and recalls.

Food manufacturers produce a wealth of data on a daily basis, so the issue isn’t whether or not it’s available. Instead, the problem lies in the amount of time it takes to track down the information you need when you need it. The more time it takes to retrieve and analyze data, the less efficient your company is. In other words, a company without access to real time food safety and quality data is data rich, but information poor. This leads to a number of key challenges, including:

Managing a gluten-free program alongside other regulatory and customer requirements can be challenging and complex for food companies. Yet, the safety of your consumers and the integrity of your brand depend on the effectiveness of your gluten-free management program. It is therefore essential to ensure your program requirements are being met daily – a demanding task in an environment with multifarious products, ingredients, and processes.

Beyond providing a variety of safe and easily accessible food choices for people with Celiac disease, gluten-free foods are becoming a highly sought-after choice among many individuals across the world. Yet, making the shift towards becoming gluten-free requires putting a comprehensive management program in place first.

While gluten-free remains a voluntary claim for food manufacturers, regulatory agencies like the FDA and Canadian Food Inspection Agency have specific requirements which detail what that claim means. Under both aforementioned governing bodies, any foods declared gluten-free must contain less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten. Here, we take a closer look at what these and other gluten-free regulations mean for the food industry.

Recently, gluten-free products have begun to line the shelves of every major food retailer, with many restaurants offering gluten-free menu options as well. Yet, because the gluten-free movement is still relatively new in the food industry, many people are still wondering how we got here, and what it means to be gluten-free.

Check out our favorite articles on food quality and safety from November!

Each month, we follow the latest trends and news in food safety and quality to bring you insights and updates from thought leaders in the food and beverage industry. Here's a roundup of some of our favorite articles and blog posts from around the web in November 2018.