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For the first time since 1938, food safety legislation has been passed that greatly expands the powers of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to enforce regulations that significantly improve the protection of our food supply. The new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) mandates rigid plans for monitoring and taking corrective actions by registered food handling companies to prevent the growth of food borne pathogens and other contaminants in food products. Every registered food operation by law must perform a hazard analysis of their facilities and distribution assets to identify potential areas that jeopardize food safety and to then determine what preventive controls will be implemented preventing food specification violations. The systematic and scientific format that is mandated to monitor regulated industries such as meat, poultry, seafood and produce and which is now being used by FSMA registered food handlers is HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points). HACCP requirements compel food handlers to construct an internal plan that includes: Hazard Analysis Determine Critical Control Points Establish Critical Limits Establish Monitoring Procedures Establish Corrective Action Establish Verification Procedures Record Keeping Under the FSMA, the Food and Drug Administration will depend upon qualified HACCP plans to gauge operational compliance as measured by inspectors and accredited third party auditors. The need for product recalls or mandated corrective actions will be determined by the credibility of the HACCP plan’s critical control points and verification that procedures were adhered to. Once hazards and critical control points have been adequately identified and quantified, the impact of the plan then resides in the ability of the food handler to monitor and document actions taken with end results. Therefore, whenever technologies can be applied that provide dependable monitoring and management of critical control points, the risk of a catastrophic event is greatly reduced and relationships with regulatory agencies and customers are enhanced predicated upon the dependability of actions taken and recorded. Unfortunately, there are too many manual procedures in HACCP plans today that lead to human error or lack of validation. For organizations to protect themselves from product contamination, food spoilage, food safety issues and the pain of regulatory intervention, it is always recommended that they implement sound SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) policy, adhere to GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) and construct a rigid HACCP plan that incorporates proven technology to authenticate actions taken. Several technologies exist today that can provide temperature monitoring, however, many of these technologies focus only on incremental elements of the food chain, such as a warehouse, transportation or a retail store and don’t provide electronic verification for regulatory inspections. Cooltrax unique wireless technology was designed specifically to manage and verify real time temperatures and safety parameters surrounding refrigerated perishable goods throughout the supply chain. By incorporating this web based solution as part of their HACCP plans, the custodians of food significantly improve their ability to prevent food borne contamination illness or intentional terroristic type adulteration of products they manage.
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