By applying commonsense protections from farm to fork and by selecting the most appropriate food inspection technology for the application, transparency can be enhanced and the risk of physical contaminants entering the food chain prevented.

Personnel training is one of the cornerstones of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Under the Preventive Controls rules, employee training is now mandatory for both human food and animal food manufacturers.

Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) regulations represent a paradigm shift in how food is regulated in the United States to protect consumers from foodborne illness. The act and its corresponding regulations not only place more responsibility on food manufacturers, but also provide FDA with substantial new authority to use when inspecting facilities.

To the credit of FDA, a wealth of resources has been assembled to help processors develop and implement a plan to come into compliance with the Preventive Controls rules. For example, the agency created a Food Safety Plan Builder to assist owners/operators of food facilities with the development of food safety plans that are specific to their facilities and has published several guidance documents related to implementing Food Safety Modernization Act.

How does the Food Safety Modernization Act (and specifically Preventive Controls for Human Food) affect your Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), food safety plans and your Quality Control Laboratory?

The Food and Drug Administra-tion’s time-clock for enforcing the most important FSMA regulation, the “Preventive Controls for Human Foods (PCHF)” started in mid-September 2016. As I write this in early December, it appears that FDA will be training its field investigators and regional milk specialists well past the end of 2016.