How changes are necessary to our food safety system
Over the past year, the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) has taken major steps to s
Although the commissioner and other FDA officials are well-liked and regarded, unlike Yiannas, the majority of commissioners join the organisation as authorities on medical items and have no interest in, experience with, or knowledge of food safety. As a result, individuals prefer to focus more on the things they are familiar with. As a result, every element of the feeding programme can now go at different speeds and in different directions.
This idea is emphasised in the following passage from an executive report by the AFDO titled “Recall Modernization: Accelerated Partnering for Effective Recalls”:
low the rise in foodborne illnesses in the US. Recalls, a highly effective integrated food safety system, and retail food safety are the organization’s main priorities.
An Overview of the US Food Regulation Framework
Federal, state, and municipal governments are usually involved in the food safety system in the United States. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has regulatory authority over food processors involved in interstate commerce for foods made without meat or poultry. Usually, the FDA has concurrent jurisdiction with the state in where the production is occurring.
Under contract with the FDA, state inspectors handle the majority of the FDA’s food inspection work, often sixty percent of the total. During manufactured food incidents, the administration and the states typically collaborate because the states frequently have greater latitude and can carry out compliance actions—such as licence suspension or revocation—more rapidly.
Nonetheless, the FDA lacks regulatory jurisdiction over retail goods, which includes grocery shops, supermarkets, convenience stores, and food services (restaurants, caterers, etc.). The Food Code is issued by the FDA, but states and local governments are ultimately in charge of retail regulation. Thirteen states have state-only jurisdiction, twenty have nearly sole authority over local government, and the remaining states have some form of hybrid system where state and municipal agencies work together to ensure retail food safety.
An extremely effective integrated food safety system
AFDO has directed its efforts towards analysing the obstacles to an integrated food safety system during this post-COVID era. Working with numerous industry and consumer stakeholders is essential in this field. Conversations I’ve had with members of the food safety community have revealed a recurring theme: the FDA needs an experienced, capable food safety leader with direct control over the three main divisions of the food programme: the Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), the Centre for Veterinary Medicine (CVM), and the Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN).
Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas is a leader among equals in the current arrangement. The Commissioner receives reports from him, the Centre Directors, and the Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs.
According to the coalition that conducted the aforementioned three-year study, this decentralised structure leads to inconsistent methods, or silos, that decrease effectiveness, poor decision-making, and limited collaboration across the functional domains.
The Deputy Commissioner for Food Policy and Response, along with the other food leaders, enjoys strong confidence among the food safety community. Yiannas has not, however, been given the same level of authority as previous deputy commissioners for food safety, including budgetary and supervisory powers over CVM and CFSAN.
“The recall operations that occur in the FDA’s Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), a completely separate centre, exacerbate the organisational challenges. Critical decisions regarding recall efforts (i.e., classification, determination, hazard analysis, and product reconditioning) are made directly by three offices within CFSAN. The effectiveness of the whole recall response is still being slowed down by the decentralisation of recall activities.
Consider that your CEO oversees more than thirty direct reports covering a broad range of topics. That, of course, presents a difficult issue.
This was realised by at least one former commissioner, who took a calculated step to centralise food safety for both humans and animals under a strong head. As many of you are aware, AFDO, trade associations, and thirty consumer groups recently wrote to the Commissioner to ask that she be replaced with an influential food safety expert.
Members of the group think that this might improve, streamline, and increase the FDA’s ability to fulfil its mandate for food safety.
Historically, the federal government has established targets for reducing foodborne illness every ten years, but it hasn’t created a thorough plan. Former AFDO President Ernie Julian spearheaded a campaign to unite the food safety community in order to devise a plan and collaborate to slow the rise in foodborne illnesses and achieve the Healthy People 2030 objectives.
Food safety in retail
Retail food safety, which includes restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores, and other establishments, is another important aspect of food safety.
With financing from the FDA, AFDO is able to carry out significant work in retail food safety in collaboration with other association partners.
Over the past 18 months, AFDO has concentrated on four areas: root cause analysis for retail regulators, active managerial control, retail data analytics, and benchmarking the brand-based retail business in these areas as well as in food safety management systems, employee health, and food safety culture.
“We know how to measure many of our goals, such as revenue, drive-through speed, etc., but we find food safety foreign,” was a common refrain I overheard when travelling to industry gatherings.
Recalling Yiannas’ book on the culture of food safety, we understand that the leaders at each store or unit must execute the culture, but maybe we haven’t given them the necessary resources?
In order to help these leaders who are on the ground become leaders in food safety as well, AFDO has collaborated with a group of SMEs that includes food safety specialists from brands in the food service, grocery, and convenience store segments as well as some owners and operations personnel.
In early summer 2022, this pilot project for roughly 40 leaders got underway; by fall, brands and their suppliers will be able to employ a train-the-trainer curriculum.
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inspections at retail
A mapping initiative that has been ongoing over the last two years has assembled entire datasets pertaining to retail inspection data. With great success, the AFDO has mapped and combined data from eight states as well as a sizable municipal jurisdiction.
We have added one more state for little under a half million routine checks, bringing the total to over 400,000. Additionally, data from the 400 biggest retail brands has been mapped by the initiative.
The dataset provides valuable insights and functions as a resource for states that are involved.
Why do inspection times differ from one another? There are now two groups: the first has an average retail inspection duration of 50 minutes, while the second has an average of 95 minutes.
Why are procedures like reheating and cooling relatively infrequently seen during inspection? It should be very evident that routine observations of these most common factors to foodborne disease at retail are warranted.
Even though we’re only getting started with this data, there is a lot of potential for enhancing retail food safety awareness and, eventually, establishment-level inspection and compliance. I anticipate that as time goes on, the data will offer trending and perhaps predictive work to help with resource allocation and inspection priority.