ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization. This standard-setting body was created in the 1940s in London and promotes standards across a wide range of industries. As the official ISO website states, ISO standards could pertain to “making a product, managing a process, delivering a service, or supplying materials.” They apply to manufacturers, sellers, buyers, users, regulators, customers, and trade associations. Thus, they are not exclusive to the food industry, and can indeed benefit manufacturing of many types, including consumer packaged goods (CPG).

There are several types of ISO standards, including those for environmental and energy management, health and safety, IT security, and quality management. Additionally, ISO has specific food safety standards to minimize the risk of food contamination.

The Food & Beverage industry proved its resilience in 2020, perhaps more than any other time in history. Here at SafetyChain, we watched as companies overcame enormous pressures to keep shelves stocked and employees healthy in the midst of ever-evolving CDC updates and guidelines. While safety and agility have always been critical to success in the industry, COVID-19 called for quick thinking when supply chains were disrupted, as well as an even stronger commitment to safety - both of our food and employees.

Each food and beverage facility is different, with its own unique set of food safety and customer requirements to satisfy. With that said, there are many key performance indicators (KPIs) shared across the industry which are used to measure success.

Paper-based systems continue to be a challenge for many food manufacturers and processors. Yet, the transition to automated record-keeping is often put off, as the task can seem daunting at best. While the timing for a technology implementation may never seem perfect, however, it turns out that this undertaking is well worth the effort. It will lift the burdens of a paper-based system, including tedious tasks, wasted time, and missing or incomplete documents.
Such was the case for HyLife™, a leading pork producer in Canada. Discover how the company solved their paper-related challenges with SafetyChain’s efficiency-driving FSQA solution below.

The start of 2020 brings us not only into a new year, but into an entirely new decade of food safety. Now seems the most fitting time to consider how food safety will evolve through the 2020s, and which shifts will have the greatest impact on the industry.

As 2019 came to a close, a couple of new FSMA developments emerged. For one, the FDA proposed a rule in regards to Section 202 of FSMA, which would require the use of an accredited lab for eligible facilities. For instance, upon receipt of a 483 notice, facilities could be required to go through an accredited lab when performing finished product and zone 1 contact surface testing to control risk. It’s also possible this rule could give the FDA the authority to request data from lab results as soon as they’re available, which would have a significant impact on the industry.

How to Prevent Hepatitis A in Your Food Plants

When we think of preventing food-borne illness, pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella often come to mind. Yet, there are other illnesses which can be transmitted through food, including the hepatitis A virus (also known as HAV). While only a small percentage of cases are believed to be acquired through food exposure, an HAV-infected food handler could pass the illness along to dozens of individuals. For this reason, it’s important for all food manufacturers, processors, restaurants, and retail establishments to take a defensive approach against the spread of this condition. 

The Importer Preventive Controls under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) is of great interest to Canadian importers as well as U.S.-based companies exporting food to Canada. While SFCR is very similar to FSMA, there are some inherent differences.

September saw two noteworthy FSMA developments of which food companies throughout the U.S. should be aware. For one, the FDA and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) have recently reached an agreement to partner together to implement the FSMA Produce Safety Rule within the industry.

On July 24, 2019, the FDA announced the user fee for the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP). Participation in this program may be an attractive option for U.S.-based food companies who wish to expedite the import process for human and animal foods. The user fee for the program is $16,681, which will support program benefits from October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2020. Here, we will explore what participation in the program entails.