Specialized Materials Analysis Training (Food Quality)
Specialized Materials Analysis Training
Charles Zona and Cheryl Murley
Food Quality – April 1, 2013
The June 2012 passage of the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA, will soon require preventive controls for companies that manufacture, process, pack, or hold human food. These companies will be required to have written plans that identify hazards, specify the steps that will be put in place to minimize or prevent those hazards, identify monitoring procedures, record monitoring results, and specify what actions will be taken to correct problems that arise. These actions were initiated to prevent problems that can cause foodborne illness, but a frequent risk in the food industry is the presence of foreign material from ingredients, processing equipment, and the environment. Although the proposed rule aligns well with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), it differs in that preventive controls may be required at points other than at critical control points, and critical limits would not be required for all preventive controls.