American Council for Food Safety & Quality

President's Message

While most food companies have dedicated years to maintaining a safe food environment, the past year has seen a renewed interest by companies across multiple commodities to take their food safety plans to a higher level. Without a doubt, the increased number of food recalls has brought awareness to many commodities that once believed they were somewhat isolated from food borne illness concerns. This increased food safety awareness has culminated in expanded regulatory involvement by state and federal regulators, resulting in more direct oversight of facilities through unannounced plant inspections by the FDA and the California Health and Human Services Agency. In addition, private industry has established more engagement through food safety publications and training. One example is the development of the GMA Industry Handbook for Safe Processing of Nuts. This is a prime example of the food industry taking a proactive stance and subsequent initiative to assemble a task force representing food safety expertise across most nut commodities. For more information on this handbook and to learn how American Council for Food Safety and Quality / Dried Fruit Association (ACFSQ/DFA) was involved, I encourage you to read Tom Jones’ article, Nut Safety Front and Center.

I have spent the last thirty years in growing, processing and marketing nut products. The past twelve months has formed a new appreciation where food safety for the dried fruit and nut industries is heading. Legislation currently working through Congress will ultimately result in stronger regulatory oversight with the focus on the individualized food safety plans that assure preventative measure such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), environmental monitoring and validated processes that are incorporated into food facilities food safety initiatives. These efforts will extend throughout the supply chain from the farm to the consumer and will result in increased awareness of potential food contamination points and preventive measures to assure high food safety standards.

New regulatory requirements have already been implemented, such as the Reportable Food Registry (RFR), which took effect in September 2009. This regulation applies to any food facility that is required to register with FDA and is involved with manufacturing, processing, packing or holding food for human or animal consumption. According to the new Reportable Food Registry, a “reportable food” is an article of food for which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to will cause serious adverse health consequences, essentially a Class I recall.

The ACFSQ/DFA will continue to play a major role in educating, training and assisting its members in maintaining compliance with future food safety regulations as they develop. To meet the on going demand for timely information by our member firms, ACFSQ/DFA has intensified its education and food safety training programs. Attendance at our district meetings is running at an all time high. In addition to our district meetings, specific food safety classes are also being offered addressing the following:

The HACCP plan, preparation and certification
GMP food safety audits, environmental monitoring
Quality management system evaluation and auditing

Lastly, ACFSQ/DFA offers a number of audits and certification options ranging from:

GMA-SAFE audits
Food safety and defense audits and training
HACCP certification
Quality management system audits
British Retail Consortium (BRC) audits (recently added)

Our goal is to utilize more than 100 years of experience and dedication to meet the needs of our members and their customers by assuring the highest food safety and quality standards are consistently achieved.

Kind Regards,
Sam Keiper

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have via:

E-mail: samk@agfoodsafety.org.
Office: 916-561-5900
Cell: 209-482-3840