The Grocery Manufacturers Association ("GMA") has announced new, wide-ranging industry initiatives designed to improve the safety and security of our nation’s food supply. The initiatives, geared toward better food-borne illness prevention and response, are outlined in Prevention, Partnership and Planning: Supply Chain Initiatives to Improve Food Safety. The new initiatives include:
- Product Recall Modernization:
Enhanced communication is the best way to ensure that food products, when recalls are announced, can be identified and removed from the marketplace as quickly as possible. Thus, the Food Marketing Institute ("FMI") and GS1-US, with the support of GMA, have developed and launched a new, electronic, Web-based product recall portal designed to facilitate the rapid and accurate flow of information between manufacturers and retailers during product recalls. GMA plans to participate closely with FMI and GS1-US to expand the use and capability of this recall communication tool.
- Accredited Third Party Food Safety Audit Certification:
Third party audits are an important part of America’s food safety net. To ensure rigor and integrity in third party certification, policymakers and industry leaders will be encouraged to engage auditors employed by certification bodies accredited to international standards by recognized organizations such as the American National Standards Institute ("ANSI"). ANSI is widely respected as the recognized accrediting body for conformity assessment systems in the U.S., and is recognized by the federal government as well as internationally.
In addition, GMA plans to work with its public and private partners, including FMI, to facilitate the implementation and recognition of certification systems. By increasing the number of well-qualified auditors, and developing universal food safety auditing criteria, industry leaders and policymakers will likely be better able to ensure that auditors are competent to review a particular facility. This should also discourage duplicative audits, reduce auditing costs, and encourage wider use of third party certification/audits throughout the food industry. Ultimately, it is anticipated that wider use of third party certification/audits can and will reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses.
- Modernization and Implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) for Food:
The FDA is currently working on updating and issuing Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) regulations for food, which can be a critical component of any food safety system. Once the FDA regulations are updated and issued, GMA plans to provide industry-wide training and education to ensure rapid and wide-spread adoption of the new and updated GMPs.
According to Pamela G. Bailey, GMA president and CEO, “[w]e want consumers and policymakers to know that we are vigilant when it comes to product safety and consumer protection. We are stepping up to the plate, taking responsibility and developing innovative reforms to improve the safety of our products.” Bailey hopes the initiatives, coupled with proposed FDA food safety reforms, “will significantly reduce the number and type of food recalls, and strengthen our overall food safety system.”
In addition, explains Bailey, “we are developing enhanced food safety education and training for member and non-member companies, assessing and enhancing our crisis management capability, and expanding our ability to communicate during product recalls to ensure we are doing our part to protect consumers.”
Thus, once again, GMA has demonstrated its commitment as a food safety leader, working closely with stakeholders from the entire supply chain to develop comprehensive food safety solutions that will not only improve the safety of our food, but will also enhance the confidence of our consumers.
The Food Marketing Institute (FMI), in collaboration with Ecolab, has developed and released a new Norovirus Information Guide for industry.
