REGULATORY-NEWS

Free FSMA Compliant Food Safety Plan Tool

The FDA has created a Windows application meant to run on a PC or laptop that will guide you step-by-step through the process of creating a safety plan for your food business, and they’ve now just released it for download. According to the website:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Safety Plan Builder (FSPB) is a tool designed to assist owners/operators of food facilities with the development of food safety plans that are specific to their facilities and meet the requirements of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food regulation (21 CFR Part 117).

Use of this tool is strictly optional on the part of the user. FDA is not requiring use of this tool to develop a facility’s food safety plan. Although the content of the Food Safety Plan Builder v. 1.0 is consistent with the FDA’s existing guidance and regulations, use of the Food Safety Plan Builder by owners and operators of food facilities does not mean that their food safety plan, preventive controls, good manufacturing practices and other food safety procedures are approved by FDA or comply with FDA requirements.

The Food Safety Plan Builder guides the user through the following sections:

  • Facility Information
  • Preliminary Steps
  • Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) & Prerequisite Programs
  • Hazard Analysis & Preventive Controls Determination
  • Process Preventive Controls
  • Food Allergen Preventive Controls
  • Sanitation Preventive Controls
  • Supply-Chain Preventive Controls
  • Recall Plan
  • Reanalysis of Food Safety Plan
  • Food Safety Plan Report
  • Signature
  • Recordkeeping Procedures
  • Important Contacts
  • Supporting Documents

If you have additional questions or need more information, please email FoodSafetyPlanBuilder@fda.hhs.gov

Conference Hall B

Meeting: Jan 12th in Augusta

Our next meeting will take place on

TUESDAY, January 12th on the first day of the Maine Agricultural Trade Show
at 10am in the SOMERSET ROOM.

We will have a business meeting in the beginning, and then open up the meeting to anyone who might have question about making cheese, getting licensed, or marketing cheese. We will also have a presentation outlining the new US Food Safety and Modernization Act rules that were implemented in September of 2015.

We look forward to seeing you there!

FSMA Update from the Maine Department of Agriculture

The Maine Department of Agriculture has issued a press release describing the upcoming transition to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) by the federal government and how it might affect food producers here in Maine.

There will also be an FSMA overview session during the Dairy Sanitation Workshop being put on by Cooperative Extension in Orono on June 1st. Click the link for information on how to register for this workshop (Guild members will receive a 50% discount on their registration fee).

And a more thorough examination of the FSMA will be available at the American Cheese Society’s upcoming “Cheese Camp” conference in Providence, RI beginning July 29th.