February's News from Food Industry Employment Program
Food Industry Employment Program Newsletter
Food Safety First
Noncompliance=Death
Dear ,
Lots of news from the Food Industry Employment Program this month, so let's dive right on in!
The most exciting news is that I am writing a book!!! I'm reading lots about food systems and how food science can help make the food system stronger.
Additionally, I started a series of blog post on how food processing can reduce risk of foodborne illness, which I am calling HARM. That stands for Heat, Acid, Reduced Moisture. Check out my first post on heat.
I attended two conferences this month. The first was the Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) Annual Meeting where I taught a course on how to write Standard Operating Procedures and I was part of the panel at the Food Safety Clinic. I also went to session, one of which was about AllTogetherPA and their local grain initiative. Because of this session, I am attending the Local Grains and Malt Conference in Philadelphia next month.
At the annual meeting of the North East Center for Advances in Food Safety (NECAFS) I heard more from FDA representatives about small and very small food businesses registering with the FDA and making sure they submit a self attestation on their qualified facility status. If you are a small food business who is registered who hasn't submitted your self attestation, you will have to go through a full FDA inspection. Don't do this, if it isn't necessary. Read my summary on LinkedIn. Remember even small food processors need to follow Good Manufacturing Practices. Schedule a free food safety strategy call to find out if you have the right food safety system in place for your facility.
At the end of the NECAFS meeting, I attended a one day train the trainer for a course on "Successful Food Product Development for New Food Businesses – Managing Food Quality & Safety" This is a 12 hour training for small emerging food businesses. I found it very helpful to learn about how other organizations and businesses are assisting food entrepreneurs. Email me if you want any food safety training.
My job is to assist and support small food businesses with food safety and food science. If you have any questions, schedule a free food safety strategy session.
All the best,
Cathy