The movement of U.S. food safety efforts away from a reactive, punitive measures to a preventive system of safeguards has many food company owners fizzing. The Food Safety Modernization Act — known as FSMA in written materials and pronounced “fizz-ma” by business and regulatory people — is the source of the trepidation along the food…
Will FSMA Make a Difference?
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 through Congress — and those…
Preventive Controls: Daunting for Some, Standard Procedure for Seafood
The concept of “preventive controls” is an anxiety-producing one for many FDA-regulated food companies right now as the agency prepares to issue a final rule that will make hazard-prevention measures mandatory for processing facilities. As Food Safety News reported last week, trepidation is especially high among smaller firms, which are balking at potential costs of …
Proposed Rule for Food Processors Alarms Some, Confuses Many
“Coming down like a ton of bricks.” “Complicated and interwoven.” “Costly.” “The end of many small- and mid-size farms and food processors.” “Never heard of it.” “A work in progress.” When asked about FDA’s new proposed rule for food processing facilities, that’s how a sustainable-agriculture advocate, a food-safety expert for a large fresh produce association,…