Traceability & Food Safety in 2009 - Bits & Pieces - One for each month
January 27, 2009 - Reuters News Service
"The latest U.S. salmonella outbreak could spur food safety reform in Congress, but the process will be slow and consumers will remain at risk until the shattered regulatory regime can be fixed"
February 16, 2009 - New York Times
"The more investigators look into the latest food-safety scandal involving Peanut Corporation of America, the worse it gets. It now appears that as many as nine people have died and 19,000 have been sickened after eating cookies, crackers or institutional peanut butter tainted with salmonella from a plant in Georgia owned by the company"
March 2009 - Office of the Inspector General
The report "Traceability in the Food Supply Chain". Objectives of the report "1. To assess the traceability of selected food products. 2. To determine the extent to which selected food facilities maintain information required byt he FDA in a food emergency"
April 3, 2009 - Los Angeles Times
"Food Safety reform is on the table again. The pistachio warning, coming not long after the peanut product recall, may lead to legislative changes"
May 14, 2009 - Dr. David Acheson Testimony, Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture, House Committee on Agriculture
"We also note that traceback investigations for contaminated food, which we discussed with this Subcommittee last year, are more difficult when they involve fresh produce because the food is perishable ann the produce item (along with any packaging or labels) is usually no longer avaialable for testing by the time the illnesses are reported.
June 3, 2009 Grocery Manufacturers Association, Pamela Bailey, Pres. & CEO testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health
(Regarding HR2749) "We strongly support in concept many of the proposals in the draft, including those that require food companies to have a food safety plan; proposals for FDA to set safety standards for fruit and vegetables; proposals to improve the safety of imported food and food ingredients;....."
July 7, 2009 Food Safety Working Group Announcement, comment by Vice President Joe Biden
"It's not unusual for us to snack on vegetables from South America and turn and pick up some fruit from the South Pacific and then go to have a dinner with beef from Brazil"
August 5, 2009 Keep Our Food Safe.org
"Secondly, the working group (Food Safety Working Group) discussed the importance of a national traceaback and response system to help identify the source of an outbreak quickly and efficiently"
September 2009 IFT Report Given to FDA
The Institute of Food Technologists delivered a report compiled over a year to the FDA regarding traceability systems currently in use in the United States, systems and technologies available and recommendations for moving forward in the area of traceability.
October 22, 2009 Senate Bill 510 discussed on the hill
Hearings were held on SB510. This followed passage on July 29, 2009 of HR2749 in the House of Representatives. HR2749 and SB510 will be the basis for a final food bill that is expected to go to the Presidents desk in early 2010.
November 14, 2009 IFT Report, Task Order 6, released by FDA
The report released today by the FDA included 5 parts..Executive Summary, Technical - Executive Summary, Economic - Tactics fro Improving Food Product Traceability - Economic Report and Technical Report
December 9 & 10, 2009 Joint FDA/FSIS meetings in DC
A two day public session regarding food safety and specifically traceability were discussed at the first joint meeting of the FDA and FSIS as the two agencies vow to work together in the area of food safety moving forward.
FoodTRACE wishes everyone a safe and happy new year. In many ways, 2009 was an informational year in the area of food safety and traceability. In 2010 much of that information will be finalized and actions will be implemented. We leave you with this final thought for 2009 ---Improvment in traceability is needed and will happen - That doesn't mean it has to be expensive....at less than 1/2 cent per carton for any organization, you can help in supplying full supply chain traceability, fully forward and fully back, from any point in the supply chain.
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