Food and Beverage Manufacturing
For food and beverage manufactures, safety for your business is one ingredient that can never be left behind. With decades of experience, we know the effect a single claim can have on your customers, employees, and reputation. We have industry specific coverages designed for the unique exposures of food and beverage manufacturers. We take great pride in finding you the best coverages that suits your businesses needs and expectations.
Provided by Goldbridge Insurance Services
The Food Safety Modernization Act
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was enacted in 2011 to improve the safety and security of the nation’s food supply. This law focuses on prevention of food contamination and foodborne illness.
The FSMA gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) greater authority to establish prevention-based controls across the food supply and conduct inspections of food producers. The FSMA was intended to expand oversight of imported food products, improve the FDA’s response to food safety problems, and enhance collaboration between food safety agencies to improve public health and state and local food safety programs.
There are exemptions from some rules for facilities that qualify as small businesses under the law. However, those exemptions may not apply if the business is linked to a foodborne illness outbreak.
HIGHLIGHTS
RULES FOR FOOD FACILITIES
Food facilities must:
- Develop a written hazard analysis to evaluate potential hazards that could affect food manufactured, processed, packed or held by the facility.
- Identify and implement preventive controls to minimize or prevent any hazards.
- The controls must be documented in writing, and records must be kept for at least two years.
RULES FOR IMPORTERS
Importers must perform risk-based foreign supplier verification activities to verify that the imported food is:
- Produced in accordance with food safety requirements
- Not contaminated or misbranded
PREVENTING FOOD SAFETY PROBLEMS
Food facilities must develop a written hazard analysis to evaluate potential hazards that could affect food manufactured, processed, packed or held by the facility, including biological and chemical hazards, natural toxins, pesticides and drug residues.
Food facilities must identify and implement preventive controls to provide assurances that any hazards identified will be significantly minimized or prevented. The controls must be documented in writing, and records must be kept for at least two years.minated or misbranded.
DETECTING PROBLEMS THROUGH INSPECTIONS
The FSMA calls for more frequent FDA facility inspections. High-risk facilities will receive an initial FDA inspection within five years of when the FSMA is enacted and recurring inspections every three years after that. The FDA may work with other agencies in conducting the inspections.
The FDA is authorized to mandate a recall of unsafe food if the food company fails to do it voluntarily. In conducting a recall, the FDA will ensure that the public is notified of the recall through press releases, alerts and public notices. It will also update its website to include a searchable database of food articles that are the subjects of a recall.
Under the FSMA, the FDA must improve tracking and tracing of high-risk foods. THE FSMA also grants the FDA greater flexibility in ordering administration detention, which keeps suspect food from being moved. The FDA may suspend the registration of any food facility if it determines that the food has a reasonable probability of causing illness or death in humans or animals. The law requires a corrective action plan for facilities seeking to regain registration.
The FDA may require access to all records regarding an article of food that has a reasonable probability of causing illness or death in humans or animals. Any person (excluding farms and restaurants) that manufactures, processes, packs, distributes, receives, holds or imports the potentially dangerous food must comply with the FDA’s access request.
Various federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services, will work with state, local and tribal governments in preparing for, assessing, decontaminating and recovering from an agricultural or food emergency. The FDA will also provide training and education programs for state, local, territorial and tribal food safety officials.
IMPROVING SAFETY OF IMPORTED FOOD
The FSMA requires importers to perform risk-based foreign supplier verification activities to verify that the imported food is produced in accordance with food safety requirements and is not contaminated or misbranded.