2021 marked the anniversary of two significant events: one year of the COVID-19 pandemic and 10 years since President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act into law. So, how have these two issues really affected the food industry and their food safety management systems?
Let’s first look at COVID-19 and its effect on the industry. At the start of the pandemic, the recommendations to the general public and to both the food processing industry and the foodservice/food handling sector targeted both plant workers and the general public. These recommendations were very conservative and, sadly enough, really not based on a full and complete understanding of the virus itself. The food processing industry and those supporting the industry such as food warehousing operations, transportation and suppliers to the industry plus grocery outlets, are all essential industries. Three hundred and forty million Americans and billions of people around the world have to eat, so these industries and others had to remain open.