The disgusting truth about industrial egg production is “it stinks”. Sanitation in such environments stretches the imagination when you think of a million birds trapped in cages in huge shed type structures called  “laying houses” and the tons of fecal material produced daily.
Continue Reading Rose Acre Farms-Another Bad Actor, Or a Deeper Problem

In today’s world of food safety requirements, food producers large and small and at all levels of the supply chain are subject to increasingly rigorous industry-driven food safety standards and audits. Third party audit standards have been revitalized by the all too apparent ineffectiveness of the way external parties verify food safety programs as brought to light in several foodborne illness outbreaks. Following the Jensen Farms incident, auditing firms have tightened the process for certification, for example, by raising the minimum score required for certification from 85% to 90%. In addition, the administration bodies at the major third party audit firms are intensely scrutinizing audit results and the performance of auditors. The anticipation of the implementation of FDA’s FSMA, turns the pressure up even higher, and it is likely that the third party standards will incorporate large sections of the new federal rules.
Continue Reading Making Room for the Human Element in Food Safety Auditing

Widespread allergen exposures and the extent of the problem

A recent spat of food product recalls due to undeclared allergenic agents illustrates the problem the food industry has in preventing allergen exposures.

• Paleteria La Jalpita Issues Allergy Alert On Undeclared Milk And Sulfite In Ice Cream Bars And Popsicles
• The Popcorn Factory, Inc. Issues Allergy Alert on Undeclared Milk in Product
• Bedessee Imports Inc., Voluntarily Recalls Brown Betty Coconut Milk Powder Due to Presence of Undeclared Milk
• Euro Import Distributions Inc Issues an Alert on Undeclared Sulfites in Dried Apricots

Continue Reading Is the Food Industry Doing Enough to Control Allergen’s?

In Response to: “Blue Bell and the Very Real Impact of the Food Safety Modernization Act” at Food Safety news

I appreciate Michael Taylor’s comments in the above article posted on Food Safety News and also believe that FSMA is a step in the right direction. The fact, however, is that companies around the globe have already adopted food safety systems! This article makes it sound like preventative controls are something new and that such programs will be brought about by new federal law. The fact is in most major operations the preventative controls are in place right now. There are firms that have not adopted such in their operations, and FSMA may help to address this, but by and large, the large food borne illness outbreaks we have seen are not the result not having a prevention program, but the failure of the program to prevent the hazard from occurring.Continue Reading In Response to Michael Taylor

Environ Health Associates, Inc.

ACCREDITED HACCP COURSE

“APPLYING HACCP PRINCIPLES™ TO PRODUCE”

• LEARN THE ELEMENTS OF HACCP
• APPLY THEM IN YOUR OPERATION
• REDUCE RISK AND IMPROVE EFFICIENCY
• EARN RECOGNITION OF HACCP COMPETENCY

Class held Feb 13th and 14th 2014. THIS IS A 2 DAY *ADVANCED HACCP COURSE.

Persons taking this course include:

• Facility managers,
• Production

…

I suppose anytime one enacts a sweeping new law that affects an entire industry we can expect an outcry from the newly regulated. When it comes to the US Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act, this is no exception.

FSMA has been plodding along to its final conclusion in 2015, with FDA laying the…

While there is quite a bit of controversy concerning what happened at Jenson Farms, there is no denying that the fresh produce industry has been forced to reevaluate its food safety efforts.

The Buyer Driven Food Safety Model

Third party food safety audits are still what they have always been, an industry led method to …

Despite that all of this has been said before, Bloomberg and the Today Show still think there is something to say about third party food safety audits, but they say nothing new. Of course, there are going to be outbreaks in facilities that have third party inspections. Just like there are outbreaks in facilities regulated…