New FDA Regulations Are All About the Garnish
How to dig into the FDA’s Produce Safety Rule via the burger
Food manufacturers may be wondering how the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recently enacted produce safety regulations affect them and their consumers. Consumers themselves, well aware of the increasing number of outbreaks involving produce traditionally thought of by consumers as safe to eat (think spinach, romaine lettuce, and more recently, red onions), want to know how food manufacturers are protecting them, and rightly so.
Through the produce regulations, which are at Code of Federal Regulations, 21, 112.1-112.213, the FDA has attempted to tackle the growing number of these kinds of outbreaks, potentially arming the food industry with an additional weapon for use in the constant battle with foodborne illness.
The regulations, broadly speaking, require farms of a certain size to develop processes relating to employee hygiene and training, agricultural water, biological soil amendments (compost, manure and the like), buildings and equipment. It’s all in an effort to decrease the risk of contamination of produce during growing, harvesting, packing and holding. But what does that mean for food manufacturers?
Read Jennifer's full article in Quality Assurance & Food Safety magazine.
