To answer the question of whether the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) will make a difference, I want to take a look historically at why FSMA ever got passed by Congress. To do this, I have to wind the clock back almost 10 years. 
The only thing that got FSMA
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Can a Top-Level Federal Food Safety Assessment Really Be Accurate?
(This opinion piece by Dr. David Acheson was published here on Feb. 14, 2015, and is reposted with his permission.) Historically, FDA and FSIS have not been really cooperative when it comes to food safety: Each agency has a separate funding stream and is under separate departments, and, in a
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Prolonged Procrastination on Petitions Compounds Agencies’ Problems
(This blog post by Dr. David Acheson was published June 12, 2014, on The Acheson Group blog and is republished here with his permission.) On May 25, 2011, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) petitioned USDA to declare certain strains of antibiotic-resistant (ABR) Salmonella in ground meat
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Are All Salmonella Created Equal?
With each passing poultry-associated Salmonella outbreak over the past few years, there has been an increased focus on this pathogen and its control. Along with that is an increasing use of the term “virulent.” But what does “virulent” really mean, and should we worry about some strains being more virulent
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Determining the “High Risk Foods”: Another Analysis Sees Things Differently
The numbers say that the most outbreaks and illnesses are attributable to produce, but, in reality, fruits and vegetables are really quite safe. How can this be? A new report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) takes a look at the number of cases of foodborne
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Third-Party Audits – Their Crucial Role in Moving Forward With FSMA and Food Safety
I recently had the honor of speaking at the 2012 Safe Quality Food International Conference in Cincinnati on the topic of the crucial role of third-party audits in moving forward with FSMA and food safety. In the talk, I spent time looking at what is working well with third-party audit
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A Call to Industry: Educate the Media to Educate the Consumer
Pink Slime vs. lean, finely textured beef. Photos of rats with tumors vs. scientists disputing study methods. Conventionally grown produce vs. local and/or organically grown. Each has been the subject of media “attention.” And as the inaccuracies in the statements reveal, articles on each have too often been published without
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FSMA Delay Spurs Curious Partnerships and Regulation Pleas
In an industry traditionally anxious to be self policing and oppose regulation, the tide has turned. The first evidence of this was in 2006 after the large E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to spinach, when the produce industry was seriously requesting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration develop regulations
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Should the Microbiological Data Program Be Saved?
After nearly being chopped from existence, the USDA’s Microbiological Data Program (MDP) has been saved for the remainder of 2012. However its future existence is questionable. MDP is a national foodborne pathogen monitoring program implemented in 2001. Through cooperation with State agriculture departments and other federal agencies, MDP manages the
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FSMA Related Import Programs Taking Shape
Everyone with even a cursory interest in FSMA continues to ask, “So when are the four key proposed rules (Produce Safety Standards, Preventive Controls for Human Food, Preventive Controls for Animal Food, and Foreign Supplier Verification Program) going to be published?” I have to confess right up front that I
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