Food Business News - January 17, 2012 - 20

Washington

Alliance established
to help companies comply with

food safety rules
he U.S. Food and Drug Administration in cooperation with the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (I.I.T.) Institute for Food Safety and Health (I.F.S.H.) in December 2011 created the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (F.S.P.C.A.) to develop training courses and materials on preventing contamination of human and

be kept, and facilities also must develop a plan of action to correct problems. The F.S.P.C.A. initiatives will provide food facilities with the science-based information required for compliance with the pending regulations, said Robert E. Brackett, vicepresident of the I.I.T. and director of the I.F.S.H. “I.I.T.’s I.F.S.H. is particularly

and training that will be needed to ensure compliance.” The goal of the alliance, Dr. Brackett added, is to serve even the smallest companies wherever they are based. The F.S.P.C.A. was established under a one-year, $1-million partnership grant funded by the F.D.A. Ofﬁce of Foods through the I.F.S.H.-F.D.A. collaborative agreement. Funding has been

Institute to pay attention to the information needs of small and medium-size food processors
animal food during production. The materials to be developed by the alliance will help industry, particularly small and mediumsize companies, comply with the new preventive control rules that will be required under the F.D.A. Food Safety Modernization Act (F.S.M.A.). The F.D.A. is expected to issue proposed rules in early 2012 that will require facilities that make or handle food for people or animals to put measures in place to help prevent foodborne illness. Facilities must develop food safety plans that evaluate food safety hazards and identify the preventive measures required to guard against those hazards. The plans also must describe how manufacturers will monitor their preventive measures to ensure they are working. Records of the monitoring must well-placed to coordinate the activities of this vital alliance,” Dr. Brackett said. “With key provisions related to the preventive controls component of the F.S.M.A. coming to the fore next year, the time is now for all stakeholders to work together to ensure that all food companies, no matter their size, have access to the education allocated for the development of a standardized industryoriented training curriculum, including hands-on and webbased training modules. The curriculum will be available to those who will provide training to the industry. I.I.T. I.F.S.H. also will establish a distance learning training portal at its Bedford Park, Ill.-based campus.

Institute builds on work of National Center for Food Safety and Technology
BEDFORD PARK, ILL. — The Institute for Food Safety and Health (I.F.S.H.) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (I.I.T.), Bedford Park, was established in 2011 as a food science research institute concentrating on issues related to food safety, food defense, and nutrition. The institute said its collaborative research model facilitates innovation in the food industry through the assessment and validation of new and novel food safety and preservation technologies, processing and packaging systems, microbiological and chemical methods, health promoting food components, and risk management strategies. The I.F.S.H. builds on and expands the work of the National Center for Food Safety and Technology (N.C.F.S.T.), a research consortium of the I.I.T., the Food and Drug Administration, and the food industry. The N.C.F.S.T. for more than 20 years has provided a collaborative environment where scientists from industry, academia, and government pool their scientiﬁc expertise and institutional perspectives to ensure the production of safe, wholesome foods. FBN

jsjerven@sosland.com

JAY SJERVEN

Dr. Brackett said the F.S.P.C.A. will provide and disseminate the technical and scientiﬁc bases for identifying hazards associated with speciﬁc food commodities and industry sectors per the F.S.M.A. regulations. The group also will develop preventive control models for major industry sectors and provide guidance for maintaining preventive controls. “In addition to I.I.T. I.F.S.H. and F.D.A. ofﬁcials, the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance steering committee will include representatives from stakeholder groups in academia, human and animal food industry trade and scientiﬁc associations, and government,” said Purnendu C. Vasavada, the F.S.P.C.A. coordinator. Dr. Vasavada said members of the steering committee recently were named, and technical working groups soon will be formed. Glenn Black, director of science operations and food protection for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, Washington, will chair the F.S.P.C.A. Dr. Vasavada also pointed to the group’s progress in a number of areas, including formalizing an agreement on alliance management and organizational structure, creating a work plan and timeline for technical working group assignments, and drafting a list of proposed mechanisms for development of the training curriculum. The food safety alliance was modeled on previous alliances for seafood and fresh produce developed by the F.D.A. and groups representing academia, industry, and government. The Seafood HACCP Alliance was created in 1994, and the Produce Safety Alliance was established in 2010. FBN

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January 17, 2012

Food Business News - January 17, 2012

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