More money and reorganization are often offered as solutions when deficiencies turn up in government.
This time, food regulation by the Food and Drug Administration has come up short. In a lengthy report released on April 8, Politico depicted FDA’s food regulation and outbreak response as slow and inept.
On
Continue Reading Consumer groups, industry tell FDA Commissioner change is needed
An ongoing Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) recall modernization project workgroup has released its recommendations after a three-year review of data and information. The AFDO team is made up of regulators and industry representatives from across the country.
AFDO has released a Recall Whitepaper outlining the group’s work,
Continue Reading Food and drug officials nationwide review the state of recalls and related needs
By Steven Mandernach
The Association of Food Officials (AFDO) retail industry partners are invited to participate in the Environmental Sampling Workshop training course at the 2022 Food Safety Summit.
The course is designed to teach environmental sampling approaches in retail food establishments for outbreak investigations including hands-on practical exercises. Sampling
Continue Reading Food Safety Summit includes environmental sampling training course
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Budget woes are part of so-called normal life right now, especially for individuals and small businesses. Public entities such as school districts are also having trouble making ends meet. In addition to keeping the lights on, finding enough employees to fill open positions is another challenge related
Continue Reading Beach Beat: We need food safety boots on the ground and we need them right now
By Robert E. Brackett
The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), together with the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA); FMI – The Food Industry Association (FMI); Produce Marketing Association (PMA); and National Fisheries Institute (NFI) recently hosted a Food Safety Forum aimed at critically looking at the current regulatory policies
Continue Reading It’s time for the food industry and regulators to be bold and try something new
Most everybody knows that state food safety programs are essential, but new data collected by the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) puts it into perspective with some actual numbers.
Consider, for example, that the states in 2019 conducted more than 84.5 percent of the 48,500 human food inspections
Continue Reading AFDO puts the states’ food safety role to the numbers
Frank Yiannas, FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response, came to the government in late 2018 from the corporate worlds of Disney and Walmart.
His official biography says Yiannas is “the principal advisor to the FDA Commissioner in the development and execution of policies related to food safety, including
Continue Reading Yiannas waits for new boss while putting in another busy but virtual summer
Editor’s note: Following is a letter signed by a coalition of organizations and sent to Janet Woodcock, M.D., FDA Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs.
Dear Dr. Woodcock,
The undersigned organizations, representing the food industry, consumers, and state and local food safety regulators, write to express our support for
Continue Reading Organizations tell FDA they want it to continue with inspection mandate
Companies serving different segments of the food supply chain faced chaotic weeks early in the COVID-19 pandemic, but regardless of those challenges, mandates for food safety and product quality did not change.
Representatives of foodservice, retail and an industry association talked about their pandemic experiences and the difficulty in responding
Continue Reading Food companies navigate COVID-19 crisis through flexibility
Despite modern communications, local, state, and federal food safety staff still cannot share data because of logistics and regulations. But so-called mutual reliance is closer to reality than it’s ever been.
Panelists from all levels of government came together this afternoon to discuss what’s left to do and what mutual
Continue Reading Keys to unlocking mutual reliance are known, they just need to be turned
