• Last year we reported on FDA’s announcement on the “New Era of Smarter Food Safety”, an effort intended to combine the implementation of Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) with new and emerging technologies. The effort was set to begin with the development of the “Blueprint for a New Era of Smarter Food Safety.”
  • On June 2, 2020, FDA released an update on the effort titled “Pandemic Challenges Highlight the Importance of the New Era of Smarter Food Safety,” in which they announced that—due to the COVID-19 pandemic—plans to announce the Safety Blueprint had been delayed.
  • FDA announced that it will release the blueprint in the coming weeks that will outline its plan to create a safer food system over the next decade.  In light of lessons learned during the pandemic, FDA has revised and accelerated measures in the blueprint, including enhanced traceability, smarter tools for protecting food ordered online, and promotion of a food safety culture, as described below:
    • Food Traceability – FDA has noted that enhanced traceability could help FDA and the food industry anticipate marketplace imbalances, such as those that resulted in shortages of certain commodities during the pandemic.
    • Smarter Tools for Foods Ordered Online – Online food ordering and delivery have skyrocketed in recent months due to COVID-19 and are likely to continue in popularity; the blueprint will discuss tools like root cause analyses to understand how foods were contaminated and use data to anticipate the likelihood of contamination.
    • Food Safety Culture – the plan addresses the establishment and support of food safety cultures on farms, food facilities, and at home—primarily through education initiatives.