Food Online's Top 10 Of July

By Sam Lewis

What was most important to our readers in July? Take a look back at last month by reviewing the 10 most-popular articles that appeared on Food Online in July.

1. Building Food Defense Plans: Why HACCP Isn’t Enough
   In this Q&A, Warren Stone, senior director of science policy, compliance, and inspection at GMA, and Clay Detlefsen, VP of regulatory affairs and counsel at NMPF answer the food industry’s questions on Food Defense, including why HACCP isn't enough to ensure you comply with FSMA's Food Defense Rule.
    
2. 11 Critical Components Of Improving Food Safety Culture
   Here, Lone Jespersen, principal at Cultivate and former director of food safety and operations learning at Maple Leaf Foods details 11 points every company should consider when thinking about food safety culture.
    
3. New Nutrition Labels: Challenges, Uncertainties, And Opportunities
   Many stakeholders are involved in the implementation of the new nutrition label requirements including raw ingredient suppliers, nutrition labeling software vendors, graphics design and packaging companies, food manufacturers, and private label brand owners. For a successful implementation, it is imperative that each of these key stakeholders develop a comprehensive knowledge of the new requirements.
    
4. The ABCs Of Building A Food Safety Plan From HACCP To HARPC
   The FDA required hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) for juice and seafood, and the USDA for meat and poultry. The Food Safety Modernization Act’s (FSMA) proposed Preventive Controls rule for Human Food requires a written Food Safety Plan (FSP) be developed using the hazard analysis risk-based preventive control (HARPC) approach. A preventive approach to food safety is nothing new. But the HARPC approach is a new paradigm shift in thinking. This article will explain this new thinking, define, what HARPC approach is, explain how HARPC is different than HACCP, and how employing this thinking helps you arrive at developing a Food Safety Plan.
    
5. Avoiding Recalls Through Physical Hazard Prevention: Are You Doing Enough?
   Preventing physical hazards in food continues to be challenging, and frequently, the reason for companies and/or regulatory agencies issuing recall notices. Wood, plastic, glass, rubber, glass, and stones have been found in food products as evidenced by the various recalls over time. Recently, many reported recalls involve various types of plastic. Conservatively, food facilities should consider the following key aspects associated with their history and approach to preventive controls.
    
6. 5 Elements Of FSMA Food Manufacturers Need To Know
   FSMA is a piece of legislation passed in 2011, intended to increase the safety of food manufacturing and distribution for consumers by giving the FDA new powers that it didn’t have before. All food manufactures and food distributors need to know what’s included in this act, but unfortunately, as with most laws, the actual document can leave food companies with more questions than answers. Fortunately, we’re here to help you make sense of it. There are five main facets of this key piece of legislation that food manufacturers need to know.
    
7. How TreeHouse Foods’ Technology Aids Recall Prevention
   Effective traceability processes, combined with advancements in technology, can help keep non-conforming products off the market. This protects the health of consumers, ensures brand integrity, and minimizes costs to the manufacturer. But, food safety and quality, along with their associated technologies, are evolving. Here, Brian Perry, SVP of food safety and quality at TreeHouse Foods, shared his insights on the ever-expanding, global food supply chain and how technology aids traceability, even when things don’t go according to plan.
    
8. 5 Questions To Ask For Effective Food Safety Training
   All departments of any company (food production or not) need training from several perspectives, such as safety, job-specific roles, business acumen, and human rights. And other departments — accounting, production, quality assurance, upper management — they all have their roles that need training. Of course, sanitation needs to know how to clean, maintenance needs to know how to repair and upkeep, warehouse needs to know how to ship and receive. But, how important is training in the role of food safety? In a word: vital.
    
9. Whole Genome Sequencing Will Make Food Safer… Just Not Immediately
   For years, there has been a buzz about how genome sequencing is revolutionizing food safety. It is definitely an incredible tool giving an immediate understanding of the genetic composition of microbial pathogens, including bacteria and viruses. However, there are still gaps needing filled regarding how pathogens produce disease and survive in foods. For that, we have made several advances in DNA-based technologies that translate to a more sophisticated understanding of how bacterial pathogens work. So yes, genome sequencing brings us more tools to further characterize pathogens, but do not expect any other parts of food safety to be forgotten soon because of WGS.
    
10. Listeria Control Programs: A Journey Of Sampling To Prevention
    As the food industry shifts its focus from reacting to adverse events to preventing them, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” is becoming the new mantra. Here, Nandini Natrajan, Ph.D., senior director of science operations at Keystone Foods, shares insight on how both the FDA and USDA FSIS are approaching listeria control, as well as what those companies can do to mitigate their listeria risk and prevent listeria contamination-related recalls.