New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint

New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett

The Food and Drug Administration has released details of its New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint.

FDA Commissioner Stephan Hahn explains in a video statement that the plan includes better traceability for food borne illness, better data thanks to technology and something that has become increasingly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic; improved and supply chains.

Hahn also says the plan includes a new emphasis on food safety from producer to consumer and all points in between.

Hahn: “The importance of having a safety culture is something very familiar to me as the administrator of a medical center as this is a central tenet in efforts to protect hospital patients.

The pandemic has given us a new perspective on what we mean by food safety culture.

We still believe that to make dramatic reductions in foodborne disease we must do more to influence and change human behavior, as well as to address how employees think about food safety, and how they demonstrate their commitment to this as part of their jobs.

But a strong culture of food safety involves more than this. It’s also about keeping those food workers safe and about educating consumers, who are cooking more at home these days, on safe food handling practices.

We’re not just encouraging the food industry to make changes; we’re looking within our ranks to see how we can approach these issues differently to better support and advance each of these priority areas.”

The FDA announced its “New Era” plan in spring 2019 after E. coli outbreaks traced to leafy greens and romaine lettuce. The release was set for March but pushed to July because of the pandemic.

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