Food Protection Trends - January 2010 - 43

WhAT’S hAPPENING IN FOOD SAFETY This year’s report also reveals that one third of food insecure households had very low food security (food intake of some household members was reduced and their eating patterns disrupted at times during the year). This is 5.7 percent of all US households or about 6.7 million. This is up from 4.7 million households (4.1 percent) in 2007, and the highest level observed since nationally representative food security surveys were initiated in 1995. Even when resources are inadequate to provide food for the entire family, children are usually shielded from the disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake that characterize very low food security. However, children as well as adults experienced instances of very low food security in 506,000 households (1.3 percent of households with children) in 2008, up from 323,000 households (0.8 percent of households with children) in 2007. The fundamental cause of food insecurity and hunger in the United States is poverty – marked by a lack of adequate resources to address basic needs such as food, shelter and health care. The Obama Administration has taken aggressive action on these fronts through the expansion of critical services for Americans most in need. The historic investments of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, with a focus on long-term job creation, are a major part of this effort. The Recovery Act provides tax relief for working families, job training, unemployment insurance, income support and affordable housing to needy Americans and their children. A central part of the Recovery Act included a significant increase in nutrition assistance benefits for the 36.5 million people (half of whom are children) who participate in USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the Food Stamp Program. It also provides resources to the state agencies that administer the program, helping them to deal efficiently with increased caseloads. “As the Obama Administration works to foster a robust recovery for all, it’s important to recognize that we have another opportunity to improve the health and nutrition of our children when Congress begins to debate the Child Nutrition Reauthorization. It is vital that we make it easier for families and administrators to bring eligible children into the program and to eliminate gap periods when children struggle to find the nutrition assistance they need – at breakfast, during summer, and in after-school settings,” said Mr. Vilsack. USDA’s National School Lunch program serves 31 million children a healthy meal each school day – for some children in need, this is their most important meal that day. USDA is working with states to increase the use of technology to make low-income children whose families already receive SNAP automatically certified for free school meals and to promote policies that make it easier for eligible families to participate in SNAP. Also, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC program, ensures mothers and their children have access to nutritious options as well. Nearly half of all infants in this country participate in WIC. “During challenging economic times, the pool of those in need of vital food assistance expands. USDA’s role — along with our partners — is to ensure individuals do not fall through the cracks, and can access nutritional services with dignity and respect,” said Mr. Vilsack. NSF International Becomes First North American Certification Body to Receive ANSI Accreditation for Both BRC and SQF Standards SF International has announced that it is the first organization in North America to obtain both British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Safe Quality Food (SQF) accreditation from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). This accreditation from ANSI, the authority on US standards and conformity assessment systems, expands the scope of NSF’s Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)-recognized accreditation to include BRC, enabling NSF to help more companies throughout the food supply chain strengthen their quality assurance programs. GFSI has emerged as a way to better address the safety and quality of the global food supply. NSF offers certification to GFSI-benchmarked food safety standards, such as BRC and SQF. These global food safety certification systems promote consistency across the supply chain and provide independent certification that a product, process or service complies with international, regulatory and other specified standards. BRC, a GFSI-benchmarked food safety standard developed by the British Retail Consortium, integrates Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) systems, factory environment, process control, quality management system, product control and personnel training. Adding BRC accreditation through ANSI enables NSF to provide clients with the food safety certification services they need to compete in today’s global marketplace. Also recognized under the GFSI-benchmarked standards, SQF is designed to provide certification that food safety and quality management systems comply with international and domestic food N JANUARY 2010 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS

Food Protection Trends - January 2010

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