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FDA announces ‘enforcement discretion’ for specific FSMA regulations

Although FDA has temporarily relaxed some specific rules, processors are not necessarily off the hook, and may want to contact their food safety consultants.

Wayne Labs

January 8, 2018

The FDA intends to exercise enforcement discretion for certain provisions in four of the FSMA rules until it can work out issues presented in feedback from several entities or stakeholders, especially farms, packing facilities and importers.

CPU security vulnerabilities pose broad-spectrum issues

Meltdown and Spectre side-channel vulnerabilities threaten most computer microprocessors and operating systems—including portable devices, and potentially industrial control systems exposed to the Internet.

Wayne Labs

January 7, 2018

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) reports several CPU hardware implementations are vulnerable to side-channel attacks, being referred to as Meltdown and Spectre (also KAISER and KPTI).

E. Coli

E. coli outbreak hits U.S., Canada

Source of outbreak not yet identified in U.S.

Casey Laughman

January 5, 2018

An E. coli outbreak has led to 17 illnesses and one death so far in the United States.

Packaging

StackTek expands into baby food

Single-serve PET containers snap together to form a ‘stack,’ creating single-serve portions, each individually sealed in BPA-free, reusable containers.

Crystal Lindell

January 5, 2018

StackTek may be best known for its applications in the wine industry, but now it’s making its way into the baby food market.

Food recalls

Leading cause of recalls in 2017 undeclared allergens, mislabeling

Food Industry Counsel LLC says 438 total recalls were reported.

Debra Schug

January 3, 2018

There were 438 recalls in total and the leading cause of these recalls was the presence of undeclared allergens and products being mislabeled.

Unclear which agency should be inspecting catfish

GAO says the FDA and USDA’s FSIS need to get together on testing imported catfish for residual drugs.

December 20, 2017

The saga dates back to 2012 when the Government Accountability Office said that the responsibility for inspecting catfish should not be reassigned from FDA to the USDA. However, that’s not what happened.

FDA’s top 5 most commonly cited food safety violations

FY 2017 top violations are almost the same as those cited in FY 2016 and 2015.

Debra Schug

December 20, 2017

Among the top five violations during 2017 were lack of pest control and sanitation monitoring.

Plant Openings

Plant Openings: December 2017

December 15, 2017

Announcements about new food and beverage plant construction projects, plant renovations and plant expansions.

People & Industry News

People and Industry News: December 2017

December 15, 2017

Announcements about new hires, staff promotions, association news, awards, mergers and acquisitions.

Regulatory Watch

FDA issues guidance for co-manufacturing supply chains

Guidance sets standards for managing supply chains in co-manufacturing environments

December 15, 2017

Raw materials and other ingredients under supply-chain-applied.

On Demand Kelley Rodriguez, Editor in Chief of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods, will be joined in this 60-minute webinar by industry experts to help unpack the latest research.

On Demand Driven by climate goals, business risk, client interest, and resilience considerations, food and beverage companies are increasingly turning their attention to decarbonizing their production processes.