Food Processing - December 2007 - (Page 8)

NEWS BITES • R E G U L AT O R Y• FDA unveils new plan for food safety Emphases on prevention, third-party inspectors and recall powers – but more authority, funding needed. “AmericAn consumers hAve one of the sAfest food supplies in the world, but the world is changing and we know it can be safer,” began fDA commissioner Andrew von eschenbach. eschenbach, along with tevi troy, deputy secretary of the Dept. of health and human services, and fDA Asst. commissioner David Acheson unveiled “food Protection Plan – An integrated strategy for protecting the nation’s food supply,” on nov. 6. eschenbach said the agency is trying to become proactive, focusing on areas of highest perceived risk and promising to move faster to stop outbreaks and questionable imports. “increased corporate responsibility” was the first bullet point. the long awaited plan – which addresses both food safety and food defense for domestic and imported human and animal products – “uses science and modern information technology to identify potential hazards ahead of time,” the announcement said. the plan has three main points, each with sub-points: 1. Prevent food contamination by: • Promoting increased corporate responsibility to prevent foodborne illness • identifying food vulnerabilities and assess risks • expanding the understanding and use of effective mitigation measures. 2. intervene at critical points in the food supply chain by: • focusing inspections and sampling based on risk • enhancing risk-bases surveillance From left: Tevi Troy, Andrew von Eschenbach and David Acheson unveil the new Food Protection Plan. BRIEFS Ralcorp Holdings will be the No. 3 U.S. cereal marketer if its purchase of Post cereals closes next year. Kraft Foods Inc. in November agreed to sell its cereal unit – more than 20 brands including Spoon Size Shredded Wheat, Raisin Bran, Honeycomb and Pebbles – to the St. Louis company in a $1.7 billion stock deal. Ralcorp, once a major force in cereals with former Ralston brands Corn, Wheat and Rice Chex, has become primarily a private label food manufacturer. Heads continue to roll at Hershey Co. On Nov. 11, eight of Hershey’s 10 directors resigned, six of them asked to do so by the Hershey Trust. Thomas Hernquist, senior vice president and global chief growth officer, resigned from the company on Richard Lenny’s last day as CEO (Nov. 30). David West replaced Lenny as CEO on Dec. 1, and Kenneth Wolfe, a former Hershey CEO, will replace Lenny as chairman on Jan. 1. • FOOD PROCESSING DECEmBER 2007 • improving the detection of food system “signals” that indicate contamination. 3. respond rapidly to minimize harm by: • improving immediate response • improving risk communications to the public and industry. in subsequent discussions, fDA officials acknowledged that many of the steps cannot be accomplished without new legislative authority and funding. the plan also recommends: • Authorizing the agency to issue additional preventive controls for high-risk foods • requiring food facilities to renew their fDA registrations every two years • Authorizing fDA to accredit highly qualified third parties for voluntary food inspections • requiring new re-inspection fees from facilities that fail to meeting current Good manufacturing Practices • empowering fDA to issue a mandatory recall of food products • Giving fDA enhanced access to food records during emergencies. We have two web-based addendums to this story. An analysis of the plan from David Joy, our Regulatory Issues columnist and a partner at law firm Keller & Heckman, is at www.FoodProcessing.com/ articles/2007/302.html. Tevi Troy, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services, writes an exclusive column for our Wellness Foods supplement – see www.FoodProcessing.com/articles/2007/301.html. WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COm http://www.foodprocessing.com http://www.foodprocessing.com/articles/2007/301.html http://www.foodprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - December 2007

Contents Editor's Plate NewsBites Rollout Food Biz Kids Processor of the Year: Mars Snackfood U.S. Mass Production Meets Custom Manufacturing Product Development: Bone appetit! Show Report: Pack/Process Expo and Worldwide Food Expo New Product Profiles Toops Scoops

Food Processing - December 2007

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