Food Processing - February 2008 - (Page 26)

IMPORTED INGREDIENTS FDA import specialists inspect spices at a warehouse at Port Newark, N.J. tained. Our global customers also audit our plants and our suppliers. The net result is regulators, the manufacturer and customers are working together to ensure the quality of our products.” He adds, “As the brand owner, our job is to be certain all levels of private and public sector quality assurance work together to identify, manage and mitigate all food safety risks.” Rice, who has 18 years experience working in China, believes the country’s modern manufacturers and its governmental food quality watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), have the processes and the commitment to ensure quality food products for export. However, “Any food company importing food or food ingredients today is just as vulnerable as those in the pet food industry in 2007 unless they have an extensive import program in place addressing food safety,” warns Gale Prince, a pioneer food safety expert with 40 years of experience with major U.S. food companies. “Too often the decision between purchasing domestic and imported ingredients is based upon cost of the basic ingredients,” he continues. “Responsible ﬁrms need to know who is producing their imported products and ingredients and where. This includes a facility inspection of the foreign producing ﬁrm and evaluation of operational practices and technical expertise.” “Gadot Biochemical Industries Ltd. is building a plant for citric acid and sodium citrate in China, and we will apply the same quality levels and quality systems as we have in our plant in Haifa, Israel,” says Ronny Hacham, vice president business development and marketing. “Products will meet USP/BP/JP/NF/FCC monographs, and the plant will grant GMP, HACCP, ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certiﬁcates – certiﬁed by Western certiﬁcation bodies. “Pharmline, our American company, sources many ingredients in China and India, and applies very stringent QC procedures,” adds Hacham. “As has been the case for years, it can provide traceability of every incoming raw material to the pallet or drum level.” Pharmline is about to announce the reopening of an ofﬁce in China, and this new operation will be focused on quality assurance and vendor compliance issues. The company plans to conduct regular GMP audits of its top vendors, environmental audits and regular web meetings with vendor quality control departments to 26 • FOOD PROCESSING FEBRUARY 2008 collaborate on analytical methodologies, HACCP and current issues of concern to industry. “It is still critical for the food processor to visit the ingredient supplier – wherever they are located – and build a close relationship of understanding and trust,” says Bob Hoopingarner, vice president of sales and marketing at International Dehydrated Foods Inc. (www.idf.com), Springﬁeld, Mo. “If the supplier can prove they operate under the proper guidelines, if they use the [appropriate] processes to ensure product and employee safety, including facility security, and if they can prove they will meet the customers’ needs with every shipment, they deserve to be considered a reliable, safe source of supply. But there’s a cost associated with doing that,” he notes. “When dealing with imported foods or ingredients you must think outside of the traditional quality control box and include in your considerations the production practices, ecological and social conditions in the exporting country,” says Prince. “History has shown the need to give additional attention to chemical contaminants, but attention must also be given to authenticity testing of imported products and certiﬁcates of analyses. “You must constantly review international food safety intelligence and apply the elements learned in the design of your food safety program to make sure your products meet consumer expectations,” he says. Can we afford enforcement? “Imports are our Achilles’ heel,” says Ken Lee, professor and director of Ohio State Food Safety Center, Ohio State University. “There is no global food regulator. If the Chinese want to put an adulterant into food, they can do it until they get caught. I’ll wager it will happen again, because it’s driven by the proﬁt motive.” Inspections of all imports would require vast increases in the FDA and USDA budgets. Meanwhile, FDA is inspecting products from China and other countries with less stringent internal food safety controls than ours, and relaxing inspections from countries such as Britain and Canada, which have stronger standards. FDA might require importers and U.S. processors using imported ingredients to provide far more detailed information about the production processes in place at foreign suppliers. Pressure is on from both industry and consumers to improve the overall food safety system in America. In a recent Consumer Reports study, 92 percent of Americans want to know which country produced the food they buy. A 2007 survey by The Food Marketing Institute found consumer conﬁdence in food safety plummeted to 66 percent, down from 82 percent the year before. In July 2007, President Bush issued an executive order creating a cabinet-level Interagency Working Group on Import Safety to conduct a review of the U.S. import system. Chaired by HHS Sec. Mike Leavitt and comprised of 12 federal departments and agenCONTINUED ON PAGE 27 PHOTO: BLACK STAR/MICHAEL FALCO FOR FDA MORE ON THE WEB There was much more to this story than we could ﬁt in print. Plus, there are no fewer than six original stories to accompany this one on our web site, including including a proposed FMI/ GMA recall database and HHS Sec. Mike Leavitt’s blog, For all, go to www.FoodProcessing.com and search for “food safety.”. WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM http://www.idf.com http://www.FoodProcessing.com http://www.foodprocessing.com

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Food Processing - February 2008 Contents Editor’s Plate NewsBites Regulatory Issues The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Product Spotlight Ingredients From Where? Product Development RCA Show Review Plant Operations Packaging New Supplier Products Toops Scoops

Food Processing - February 2008

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