World Food Safety Day!

What day is it???

That’s right its WORLD FOOD SAFETY DAY!!!

​Every year 1 in 10 people get sick and over 420,000 people die after eating food that was contaminated by Viruses, Bacteria, Parasites or Chemicals. These numbers are really just the tip of the iceberg though as many times incidents go unreported.

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We talked about the CORE FOUR practices that you can do at home, but are you aware of all the different things industry and governments are doing behind the scenes to help protect your food?

Better Detection and Traceability Practices:

Technology has improved vastly over the last few years. The most reliable means of detection and identification used to be Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) a laboratory method that produced “ladders” that were visually, then automated, inspected for identification. This practice is being replaced by Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS). WGS is a molecular method that identifies pathogens by reading its DNA (Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid). This technique is amazingly precise. Not only can it say you have Salmonella, but it can identify which serovar (subtype) and identify the region that the pathogen is from. This is important as most foods are compiled from ingredients across the globe.

Traceabilility is also getting a boost from technology with IOT (Internet of things), Blockchain, and AI (Artificial Intelligence) communicating potential issues with incredible speed and accuracy. Traditional traceability could take weeks to follow a product back to its source. Frank Yiannas, when he was at Walmart, put his team through an exercise tracing Mangoes. Using traditional methods it took 6 days, 18 hours, and 26 minutes to track down where the mangoes were from. With Blockchain software developed with IBM, it took only 2.2 seconds. This works great on products that are single or at least very few ingredients, but has difficulty with more complex items. Still it’s a good step forward.

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Social Epidemiology is a relatively new way to identify outbreaks. This is where you as a consumer can play a part. In our over-connected world there are people and systems that dive through social media, such as Facebook, Yelp, and Instagram to find potential hotspots and bring them to the attention of local authorities. One such platform is www.iwaspoisoned.com which was developed by Patrick Quade. Since he launched his platform, they have found numerous outbreaks and brought them to local health authorities.
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Regulatory

I will confess, I am one of those folks that think we are over-regulated as citizens. As a member of industry, I think that regulations are a necessary evil. It is far cheaper for us as industry to self-regulate and work through our trade groups. This fails though when the information or practices don’t make it down to smaller manufacturers or a “bad apple” takes advantage of a short-cut.

Did you know there are over 3000 different jurisdictions and regulatory agencies that handle food in this country? Each jurisdiction has their own rules and Food Code that must be followed. The US Food Code is revamped every 2 years but may not be adopted for several years by your local authority. There are even regions using Food Codes from the 90’s still today! 

That is why regulations like FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) become important. FSMA is a sweeping bit of legislation that covers many parts of the food system. What I like about FSMA is it focuses on Preventive Controls(PC) and process improvements.

HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is a relatively static system. Once you have a program in place, you basically maintain it. HARPC (Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls) is FSMA’s replacement. It, like HACCP, focuses on finding and fixing potential problems in the system. With HARPC, you are required to continuously evaluate your program and verify that controls you put in place are actually doing what they are meant to.

FSMA also includes the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) and Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (VQIP). These programs are far from perfect, but they are a good step in the right direction. Basically, these programs make sure that imported ingredients and foods must meet US standards.

The US isn’t the only government working to improve their regulations. The Safe Food for Canadians Act went into effect in January. Amongst other things, this act combined 14 regulatory agencies streamlining many processes. New Zealand recently restructured their ministries. The UAE has been putting in lot of effort to improve their food system with new technologies and “Happiness Inspections.” I’ll admit when I first heard about these, I thought it was a joke, but it is actually an awesome program that is vastly improving conditions in Dubai.

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Trade organizations

There are a slew of organizations that are specific to particular foods or retail avenues. We have several that focus just on your food safety. Many of which you’ll find That Food Safety Guy actively in, but that’s another blog. I bring it up here to highlight that the folks that work behind the scenes are communicating and collaborating. Food Safety is NOT a competitive advantage and it is not uncommon to find competitors working together in these organizations. For example, at a function you will find Publix, Walmart, Kroger, Yum Brands, McDonald’s,  Coca-Cola  and many others collaborating on presentations, methods, and standards.

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​Food Safety professionals are a tightly knit group. Regardless of where we work for our day job, we are an extended family that works together for your protection.

This is why I get cranky when I hear the misinformation online about how “evil corporations” are just gouging consumers for profits or are using fraudulent ingredients in their products. These folks work incredibly hard to bring great products to you. Don’t let some know-nothing celebrity online convince you otherwise.

This #WorldFoodSafetyDay rest assured that we are doing our best to keep your food safe. Now do your part. I encourage you to start by putting the CORE FOUR Practices into place and follow #FightBac’s Live twitter party.

​Sláinte
James
Science | Safety | Sustainability
http://www.ThatFoodSafetyGuy.com

Instagram▫️Facebook▫️Twitter @ThatFSGuy

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