Food safety has risen high on the list of concerns for consumers, the Obama administration and industry. This has been driven largely by recent food-safety events, particularly the massive recall of products containing Salmonella-tainted ingredients from Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). Yesterday, President Barack Obama called on the nation’s regulatory agencies to work together on food safety, and suggested that both technology and changes to the regulatory system itself are necessary.
Even before the PCA recall, and before being elected president, Obama had emphasized his desire to take on the issue. “When I am President, it will not be business as usual when it comes to food safety,” he said in a statement released in February 2008, following a large beef recall.
One area that seems to be a focal point of the administration’s food-safety initiative is re-organizing how food safety is addressed by regulatory agencies. Multiple agencies have responsibility for the area, and both Obama and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) seem ready to overhaul that system. Others argue that current systems should be improved and strengthened. Either way, it seems certain that changes are coming.
Food safety will be one of the hot topics at the upcoming SupplySide East trade show and conference April 27-29 in Secaucus, N.J., with Dairy Queen’s Nicole Butterfass presenting a seminar titled “Food Safety and the Global Economy.” Butterfass is responsible for managing product quality at American Dairy Queen Corporation. The 30-track education program runs noon-4pm on April 27, and 9am–noon on April 28-29. The SupplySide East exhibit hall opens April 28-29 at noon and features hundreds of suppliers of innovative ingredients. Full details of the program are available at www.supplysideshow.com/east.