Fresh Ideas: Already and not yet

With the scheduled closing for comment periods on some of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) rules looming as this issue goes to press, the fresh-cut produce industry will enter a period of “already and not yet.”

The “already” can be seen in the sense of a regulatory pipeline moving toward a conclusion, and a push for more robust preventive controls, traceability and auditing.

The “not yet” is the final version of the rules and the subsequent timetables for full implementation of FSMA. FDA will be considering all the comments from individuals, companies, farms and industry organizations as it crafts the final rule.

What the agency will come up with is unknown. But what people have been saying is no secret. That conversation is the subject of our story, “Comments, Questions, Opinions” on page 6, which describes what officials of the Produce Marketing Association (PMA) have been hearing in their travels.

Bob Whitaker (chief science and technology officer), Jim Gorny (vice president for food safety and technology) and Tom O’Brien (PMA’s lead Washington D.C. attorney) have been getting an earful of concerns and questions.

One of these jumped out at me, and it’s something I’ve been thinking about based on my experience as a grocery store produce clerk: what is the role of the consumer in produce safety? If people would only practice preventive controls in their own kitchens, would we even need an FSMA?

If everyone would wash their hands before and during food preparation, the risk of foodborne illness would be reduced. These hygienic measures are elements that consumers can control. However, they don’t have a choice about where their grocery store or restaurant is buying produce or who retail and foodservice suppliers are buying from. In effect, this means consumers have very few preventive controls at their disposal.

For this reason, like it or not, the regulatory focus is on the preventive controls that can be practiced right up to the time the consumer buys produce at the store or eats it as part of a restaurant dinner. Short of the government sending inspectors into the kitchens of private homes, that’s where the focus will stay.


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