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Does FSMA still hold promise?

What once elicited buzz now gets shoulder shrugs from OEMs. Can FSMA still generate opportunity?

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More than five years ago, President Barack Obama put pen to paper on the biggest reform of U.S. food safety laws since World War II, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). It was clear federal regulators intended to move the governance of the food industry from reactionary to preventative. The reforms direct the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish standards for adoption of modern food safety prevention practices by those who grow, process, transport, and store food.

“It is important that the FSMA regulatory mandates for produce safety, preventive controls in food facilities, and import safety are risk-based and inherently adaptable to the diversity of commodities, as well as types and scales of operations, in today’s food system,” said Michael R. Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods, FDA at Milan EXPO in late 2015.

The food and beverage industry cringed at the thought that more intrusive laws meant more capital spending to ensure compliance, while processing and packaging machinery manufacturers waited anxiously with fingers-crossed for a windfall of new equipment purchase orders. 

Now that most of the initial protocols are in place, it appears that CPG and OEM expectations were a bit off in their predictions. Ironically, the lack of major changes was thanks to both parties already having done a good job safeguarding their respective links on the American food supply chain. 

The Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), now mandated by FSMA, have already long been a part of the best practices by most prudent CPGs and OEMs. 

“Meat, poultry, juice, and seafood have had HACCP for several years now, and dairy has had the pasteurized milk ordinance (PMO),” says Jeff Barach, Ph.D, FSMA subject matter expert for PMMI. “The rest of the FDA regulated industry has had GMP, which is mostly sanitation for both the plant and workers.”

But, he adds, while low moisture food suppliers only needed GMPs to remain compliant, the majority, like Snyder’s Lance, went beyond sanitation and incorporated HACCP principles.

“Fortunately, at [Snyder’s Lance], the discussion on the rules was active a few years back so as we executed capital projects and maintenance items we incorporated what was being defined in the rules to ensure we had an opportunity to meet the 2016 and 2017 deadlines for compliance,” says Madinah Allen, senior director, Corporate Engineering and Technology. “By having clarity on the requirements, the organization may have to establish additional rigor in daily operations to ensure that the risk is mitigated.”

One tool Allen and other CPGs turn to as a guideline for compliance is the OpX Leadership Network, convened by PMMI. The “One Voice for Hygienic Equipment Design for Low-Moisture Foods” from OpX’s Engineering Solutions Group offers a consensus for the construction of hygienic production equipment. Design criteria and information from both OEM and CPG industry resources were qualified into a four-step method that allows a CPG and OEM to use risk assessment, with hygienic zone information and existing standards and checklists, to produce a blueprint based on use and unique needs.

On the OEM side, All-Fill, Inc. is an ideal representative of an OEM with a long history in the food industry that has always positioned itself ahead of government food grade requirements. By not allowing food product to settle in its fillers, there is no potential for bacteria to grow.

“Roughly 65 percent of All-Fill’s filling machine applications relate directly to food, so the new FSMA regulations will not affect our machine design,” says Ryan Edginton, president and CEO. “Cleanliness, sanitation, and ease of access to critical and hard to reach areas of the machine are always at the forefront of our standard designs.”