FDA ramps up role as safety sheriff

The federal Food Safety Modernization Act will result in numerous changes — some large, some small — for food manufacturers and farmers in 2012 and beyond as the Food and Drug Administration continues its slow, steady rollout of new regulations.

During the new law's first year, little has changed other than sweeping educational efforts to prepare farmers and food manufacturers for ramped-up federal inspection efforts. The inspections will include more, and increasingly intense, reviews of food safety and health protocols.

But for 2012 and beyond, companies are preparing for financial effects. Over the next five years, the FDA is planning to issue more than 50 new rules, add inspectors and ramp up oversight efforts to the tune of $1.4 billion.

Those costs, said Elizabeth Burmester, acting president for the Nebraska Association for Food Protection, are going to be passed through to non-meatpacking food manufacturers like Omaha-based ConAgra Foods; Kellogg's, which has major Omaha operations; and Sara Lee and J. Skinner Baking of Omaha.

In turn, the manufacturers are going to flip cost increases onto consumers, who may see a rise in their grocery bills.

In 2011, two major requirements were implemented by the FDA.

First, the FDA now has the ability to detain food that it believes to be contaminated or produced in unsanitary facilities. Before that, the FDA needed solid, credible proof that an item was mislabeled or tainted.

The second rule applies to imports. It says all food imported into the U.S. that has been refused by any other country, or is questioned by the FDA, needs to be approved by the agency.

"Imports are going to take significantly longer," Burmester said.

The sweeping reform has been brewing since the presidency of George W. Bush and was signed into law in January 2011 by President Barack Obama. Eventually, it will bring more power to the FDA and its growing legion of inspectors, who will substantially increase the frequency of their inspections, especially on "high risk" industries, said Angela Laury, a food safety specialist at Iowa State University who works with food producers to prepare them for looming changes.

She said the "high risk" industries are expected to be named early in 2012.

"I think that major changes are currently occurring, but after the first of the year, probably by February or March, there are going to be a lot of (FDA) documents rolling out," Laury said. "Companies are already starting to prepare.

"It's going to up the ante."

Producers of leafy greens, melons, peppers, juices, seafood, eggs and other products that are regular suspects for causing food-borne illnesses may be on an FDA list identifying the industries that will be under the tightest scrutiny.

"(The FDA) will look at patterns of the foods that have been hit the most with outbreaks and caused the most deaths," Laury said.

The answer to how, exactly, the stakes will rise in 2012 remains unclear, but Laury said more of the FDA's focus will be on preventing food contamination before it occurs. Additionally, she said, the FDA is going to look at food contamination from a different angle. Instead of trying to find and uncover safety issues, it will be up to the farmer or corporate food maker to prove that they have all angles covered.

"Even the best companies with the best food safety programs run into problems," said Laury, who was hired by ISU in August to help guide Iowa companies through changes from the new law and research food safety. "It just happens. Microbes are everywhere in the environment."

Many food producers already are involved in a program called Safe Quality Food, or SQF. Under the program, companies are critiqued in numerous areas, including Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points. HACCP requires companies to catalog and track ingredients from their origins on the farm or in the fields, and monitor situations where food could come in contact with harmful pathogens.

For firms like J. Skinner Baking that participate in the SQF program, the mandates of the Food Safety Modernization Act already are followed at their facilities. But that doesn't mean their baking operations won't require some tweaks, said David Skinner, a company spokesman.

"Probably the only real significant change will come with our packaging," Skinner said. "Traditionally, packaging companies aren't required to have a HACCP program. However, the act will require that companies that are making packaging intended for foods will have to create an HACCP program for themselves."

Those kind of changes, and even minor organizational and recordkeeping tweaks, Laury said, are going to cost companies money up front. But, he said, in the long run it will save them cash as they avoid recalls.

"It is going to cost the industry more money," she said. "But the end result, if you look at one food-borne outbreak, that can bankrupt you."

Many affected companies already comply with requirements expected to be unveiled next year, food safety experts say.

At ConAgra, no major changes are planned until the FDA unveils new sets of rules over the next few years, said company spokesman Jeff Mochal. Even then, he said, "we don't anticipate having to make significant changes."

For consumers, the act will bring a mixed bag, Burmester said.

If all goes according to plan, food will be safer and fewer people will get sick from outbreaks of salmonella, E. coli and other pathogens. But on the other hand, food will become more expensive because companies will pass on the costs, such as additional FDA fines, to grocery shoppers.

"I think it will make a great impact on the consumer," Burmester said. "Your items will be safer, but they'll also be more expensive.

"It will be a great thing once the program is up and running."

Contact the writer:

402-444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com

« Money

Share