January 16, 2015
CapitalPress.com
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FDA to implement food safety rules
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
CEO says food safety,
worker treatment linked
Capital Press
PORTLAND — In 2015,
federal regulators will pivot
from writing food safety rules
to implementing them, experts
say.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration must finish
key rules for food manufactur-
ing and produce safety by this
autumn to comply with a court
order.
Agency officials are pre-
paring to “hit the ground run-
ning” when the rules are com-
pleted, said Miriam Burbach,
FDA’s Seattle district compli-
ance director.
This year will mark “phase
two” of the FDA’s imple-
mentation of the Food Safety
Modernization Act, which was
enacted in 2011, Burbach said
during the Northwest Food
Processors Association’s an-
nual conference here Jan. 12.
Until now, during “phase
one,” the agency has focused
on developing food safety
standards, which have been
revised due to feedback from
the food industry, she said.
Implementation of these
rules will be gradual for farm-
ers and processors, who will
be given at least a year to
comply with the final regula-
tions after they’re published.
Enforcement will be rolled
out over time, with the largest
firms expected to be ready the
earliest, Burbach said. “Com-
pliance dates are staggered
based on business size.”
The FDA plans to “educate
before and while we regu-
late,” providing companies
with technical assistance in
their food safety practices, she
said.
Companies will be giv-
en “regulatory incentives” to
comply with the rules — firms
with a solid history of follow-
ing the rules will be rewarded
with shorter or less frequent
inspections, Burbach said.
Those with poorer records
will receive more scrutiny
“until we’re on the same page
regarding public health,” she
said.
Food manufacturers are
generally well prepared for
rules aimed at preventing con-
tamination, said Stephanie
Page, food safety and animal
welfare program director for
the Oregon Department of Ag-
riculture.
Farmers, however, will
largely be new to federal over-
sight of their food safety prac-
tices, Page said.
“Our greatest implementa-
tion challenge is going to be
the produce rules,” she said,
referring to pending regula-
tions aimed at fruits and veg-
etables that are typically eaten
raw.
The ODA and other state
farm agencies expect to help
implement the Food Safety
Modernization Act, but their
role will depend on federal
funding, Page said.
“It’s not something we
can take on without feder-
al resources to support that
work,” she said. “Our existing
food safety staff has very full
plates.”
Discussions about the lev-
el of federal funding and the
additional duties required of
ODA are still ongoing, Page
said.
It’s heartening the FDA has
been willing to revise contro-
versial provisions such as re-
quirements for irrigation water
testing, which some farmers
said were too burdensome,
she said.
“The FDA has really lis-
tened to those concerns,” she
said.
The original water testing
rules required weekly testing
and set a hard limit for bacte-
ria levels, Page said.
Water that exceeded that
microbial standard would
have to be treated or irrigation
would have to cease, she said.
Now, the FDA has changed
its approach by allowing farm-
ers to sample water over a lon-
ger period of time and conduct
a statistical analysis to deter-
mine its safety for irrigation,
she said.
Growers will also have
more options for ensuring
safety, like waiting for a cer-
tain period of time after the
final irrigation before harvest,
Page said.
While the rules are more
flexible, they’re also more
complicated than the previ-
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Participants at the Northwest Food Processors Association’s annual expo in Portland, Ore., gather by
an Odenberg optical sorting machine, which can identify foreign materials and undesirable traits in
vegetable crops. Implementation of the federal Food Safety Modernization Act was one of the topics
discussed at the conference.
ous proposal, she said. “Just
because FDA has backed off
a little bit, they’re not giving
you a free pass.”
Charles Breen, a food safe-
ty consultant and former FDA
official, has urged software
companies to devise programs
to assist farmers with such sta-
tistical computations.
“It’s more than grade
school math,” he said. “I’m
telling them there may be a
market for growers to have a
handy tool.”
The change in FDA’s water
testing strategy was influenced
by dry bulb onion producers,
who feared they would not be
able to economically comply
with the agency’s original pro-
posal, Breen said.
The agency is wrestling
with trying to ensure the safe-
ty of food while ensuring that
producers can make a living
growing it, he said.
In the case of dry bulb on-
ions, the FDA recognized that
the interval between final irri-
gation and harvest can act as
a kill step for diseases, Breen
said.
There’s a strong link be-
tween food safety and how
a company’s employees
are treated, according to
the CEO of a major baked
goods company.
Workers who play a crit-
ical role in handling food
products often aren’t paid
much or given opportunities
for advancement, said Paula
Marshall, CEO of the Bama
Companies.
“There’s a problem, in
my mind, with that model,”
said Marshall, who deliv-
ered a keynote address this
week at the Northwest Food
Processors Association’s an-
nual conference in Portland.
Farmers and food man-
ufacturers face a threat
from employees who sim-
ply don’t care about the fi-
nal product or even hold a
grudge against the company,
she said.
To get workers commit-
ted to food safety, compa-
nies must show them respect
— not only with better pay,
but with opportunities for
training and education that
allow them to rise in the cor-
poration, Marshall said.
It’s important to recog-
nize that workers have as-
pirations and should be al-
lowed to achieve new goals,
she said.
“It’s not just about mon-
ey,” she said.
Over the long term, in-
vesting in employee devel-
opment will pay off for food
companies by avoiding the
costs associated with quality
problems, Marshall said.
This viewpoint is in-
creasingly shared by shop-
pers who are willing to pay
more for products they see
as ethically produced, she
said.
“I’m happy to see that
change come, because I
think it’s very important for
food and the safety of the
American consumer,” she
said.
Food producers should
remember that food safety
culture starts at the top of
the company and filters its
way down, Marshall said.
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