Tackling food safety with a total systems approach

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), signed into law earlier this year, represents the first major overhaul of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) food-safety provisions since 1938. The legislation significantly enhances FDA’s ability to oversee the millions of food products the U.S. imports each year. It also impacts the entire processing and packaging supply chain, instituting new requirements for recordkeeping, more frequent FDA inspections and new inspection requirements.

Meat processors working to comply with new standards will be challenged to do so as seamlessly as possible, maintaining optimum levels of productivity and minimizing downtime. This can be achieved with a total systems approach to evaluating and modifying production lines.