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Peanut Industry Challenges Headline ACFSQ
Annual Meeting Trade Council Plans for Fewer Available Ships
By ACFSQ Staff The worldwide repercussions of a peanut product recall by a small U.S. peanut processor that faces sever economic challenges to its business and vigilant regulation by government agencies headlined the recent 101st annual meeting in late February. The American Council for Food Safety and Quality (ACFSQ) held the annual meeting in conjunction with its sister organization, the Specialty Crop Trade Council’s (SCTC) 84th annual meeting. The SCTC was formerly known as the California Dried Fruit Export Association. President and Chief Executive Officer, Merle Jacobs, warned dried fruit and tree nut industry members that government regulators will respond vigorously with increased inspections of an industry now portrayed as “high risk.” He also reminded ACFSQ members that they have a distinct advantage over non-members for the food safety services available to them. ACFSQ membership requires three unannounced food safety sanitation inspections per year. These are not like most third party audits which primarily audit food safety systems and documentation. “Our inspections are designed to specifically look for sanitation issues that regulators will investigate when they visit a plant,” emphasized Jacobs. “The ACFSQ holds the only private partnership agreement with the United States Food and Drug Administration which is designed to mirror the FDA inspections and provide them with a reasonable assurance that our members are ‘lower risk,’” added Jacobs. The conference, which included annual membership meetings for both organizations as well as food safety and transportation workshops, was attended by approximately 200 of the dried fruit and tree nut industry’s growers, processors, marketers and shippers… virtually a Who’s Who of the industry. During the breaks the attendees had the opportunity to visit with the 2 dozen exhibitors and industry sponsors. A summary of the events follows: Food Safety Workshop: Margaret Burton, Senior Manager of Quality Program Execution for Jack in the Box Restaurants recounted the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak they experience in 1993 and its dramatic affect on their company, and how it caused the USDA to change the way they evaluate beef safety. Margaret discussed how Jack in the Box changed and developed extensive programs for food safety with multiple “hurdles” built in as redundant safeguards. She also featured how the lessons learned at Jack in the Box can be used by the dried fruit and tree nut industry to strengthen food safety. Based on its strong procurement, transportation and recall programs, the restaurant chain is able to perform a recall within two hours! They have reduced suppliers from 15 to 3 to ensure a safe incoming product. Continuous discussions with suppliers and third party audits are conducted to ensure that food safety systems are a top priority. Luis Solórzano, Senior Investigator, US Food and Drug Administration presented an overview of the FDA’s role in food safety, as well as major areas of concern for processors. Increased inspections and scrutiny of both domestically produced and imported products will take priority in the future. For example, the San Francisco District has recently added 25 new investigators and 15 laboratory analysts to their team of inspectors. Mr. Solórzano also said that the FDA will emphasis “high risk foods” with a history of food safety incidents. CalFERT (California Food Emergency Response Team) is a new joint incident command system in California that will be implemented to respond quickly to food safety incidents. Thomas Jones, Assistant Lab Director & Senior Microbiologist, ACFSQ provided an overview of the recent Salmonella outbreak in peanut butter highlighting the impact on an entire industry and how proper good manufacturing practices (GMP’s) and laboratory testing procedures reduce the potential for serious and very costly outbreaks. Randall Brooks, Food Safety Manager, ACFSQ detailed the Association’s Food Safety Inspection Program which provides three unannounced inspections per year. Differing from other third party audits, which primarily serve as “system” audits. Designed as a program that would mirror that of regulatory agency reviews, fundamental observations are noted in a thorough audit of sanitation and Good Manufacturing Practices expected from compliant companies. Erika Tarr, Sanitarian, ACFSQ reviewed the procedures for the ACFSQ’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification program and the prerequisite GMP programs. ACFSQ certifies HACCP plans which provides companies with an outside review by food safety experts. By having a certified HACCP plan, a processor’s customers are assured that the plan is robust and effective. Transportation Workshop: Erika Tarr, Program Manager, SCTC facilitated a panel of experts about critical inter-modal transportation issues important to the dried fruit and tree nut industry. The SCTC’s transportation workshop featured a panel of industry experts: Peter Freidman Executive Director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition; Ernie Kuo, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Pacific International Lines (USA) Inc.; Paul Snell, Vice President, Ocean Express; Jim Wilson, Assistant Sales Manager Import/Export Team, Yang Ming (America) Corp. and Roland Kerby, Assistant Vice President Marketing and Sales-West Coast, Zim American Integrated Shipping Services Co., Inc. Among the prominent issues is a new “clean truck” fee program that will force companies to purchase trucks and employ drivers versus traditionally using owner/operators for contractual work. Export shipping carriers also discussed industry changes that will translate into fewer vessels available in 2009 due to a downturn in world economics. Some vessels will simply no longer operate. Along with fewer U.S. imports expected near-term, shippers can expect containers to be “rolled” to available vessels during peak shipping periods. The carriers all agreed that this year the California dried fruit and tree nut industry will be able to get favorable rates. At an earlier business meeting, SCTC agreed to support the industry’s use of either the existing SCTC Export Contract (which is commonly used throughout the industry and incorrectly refereed to as “DFA Terms and Conditions”) of the California Almonds Export Association’s “Unified Almond Export Contract” (UAEC) for almonds shipments. Although the majority of the contract provisions are similar, the UAEC is used for issues specific to almonds such as aflatoxin. It is also governed by English law and does not use SCTC for arbitration. For more information visit www.agfoodsafety.org . The ACFSQ is headquartered in Sacramento, California. |
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Comments, questions or story ideas? Please contact newsletter editor Richard Cherrix at 916.561.5900 ext. 107 or richc@agfoodsafety.org IN THIS ISSUE Speciality Crop Trade Council Annual Meeting 2009 Safe and Efficient Inspection Guidelines Time to Reevaluate Food Safety Programs The Dried Fruit Moisture Tester New Allergy Webinar to Assist with Food Safety Issues Member Spotlight: Riverwest Processing, Inc. Nestled between the Sierra Nevada and Pacific Coast Ranges in California's fertile Sacramento River Valley, lies more than a half-million acres of the world's finest, and most productive almond orchards. Riverwest Processing, Inc., located in Glenn, California, was founded in 2004 by the Koehnen and Paiva families. Their mission was simple: to provide a first-class processing destination for their growers, and a complete supply solution for customers seeking high-quality, natural California-grown almonds. read more Carrier of the Year Award The Specialty Crop Trade Council would like to announce that APL has been awarded the “Carrier of the Year” award for 2008. The “Carrier of the Year” award is based on the total number of containers shipped by the carrier in the calendar year. AgTC: “Clean Truck” Program The Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) recently wrote to the Port of Seattle Commission summarizing its support for the Port’s approach to effort to reduce emissions and improve air quality. A full copy of AgTC’s comments can be read by clicking here. DFA Terms and Conditions Clarification In mid February, members received a letter regarding the misuse of the phrase “DFA Terms and Conditions.” We would like to remind you that in actuality, the terms and conditions referenced are actually a contract developed by the California Dried Fruit Export Association (CDFEA), which is now referred to as the Specialty Crop Trade Council (SCTC.) For more information regarding these terms and conditions, and the changes in some of the trade and contract requirements in particular industry segments, please read the full letter to our industry members, and the Export Contract Terms & Conditions at http://www.agfoodsafety.org/news-events-links.php |
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