The Food and Drug Administration recently released a new set of regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). These regulations were proposed in February 2014, and the FDA received feedback from more than 200 sources during the comment period. Most businesses must be in full compliance with the new rules by April 2017 or face severe penalties for noncompliance.
These sweeping new regulations affect almost every stage of food distribution, including cleaning, inspecting, maintaining, loading and unloading, and operating vehicles and transportation equipment.
Michael Taylor, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, proclaimed that “Consumers deserve a safe food supply and this final rule will help to ensure that all those involved in the farm-to-fork continuum are doing their part to ensure that the food products that arrive in our grocery stores are safe to eat.”
Increasing Food Inspection Compliance Requirements Pose a Potential Cost Challenge for Food Producers
One study estimates that compliance costs have tripled in just the last several years. Food producers find it difficult to pass these costs along to consumers, since, in light of recent high-profile food safety breaches, many people see these expenditures as the cost of doing business.
The technology is available to perform required inspections at a relatively low cost. For example, X-rays can be used for quality assurance purposes, and these machines may offer substantial cost and/or utility benefits over metal detectors, ultrasounds, and magnetic resonance imaging.
But no matter how advanced machines may be, they are only as good as the people who operate them, and this underscores the need for an effective food inspection service supported by the best technology in the industry.
Given the intense regulatory scrutiny and possible consumer backlash, there is absolutely no margin for error in this area, because there is too much at stake. In the event of a contamination, loss of consumer confidence and expensive recalls may only be the beginning. In many jurisdictions, in addition to the imposition of large fines, regulators have the power to at least temporarily close a business.
The FlexXray Method
To fully comply with federal and state regulations, your business needs the help of highly trained, experienced inspection experts with the best available technology. At FlexXray, we offer a time- and cost-efficient food inspection service that is scalable to the unique needs of your business. Even better, our technicians know the technology backwards and forwards, because our company pioneered it and we use the best available tools every day.
Whether you need help inspecting product involved in a one-time issue so you can recover as much of the product as possible or whether you’d like to implement a low-cost, high benefit on-going third party QA process, FlexXray can help you better and less expensively than doing it yourself.
To trim compliance costs and increase profits, contact us today.
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