Food Safety – COVID-19 Update from United Fresh Produce Association

Food safety, and especially fresh produce safety, professionals deal with crises and challenges on a daily basis. It’s pretty much part of the job description. But I don’t think anyone could have anticipated anything like this. So here’s some general resources, followed by those that are specific to FSMA-related rules in light of Coronavirus.

1.    We’ve compiled resources to answer the most common member questions related to COVID-19.

• Our entire staff is working hard to keep updated general resources for both Industry and Consumers
• Please join the LinkedIn Group: Produce Industry Coronavirus Resource Share Group
  • To share resources (already a great food safety thread here – thanks Drew McDonald!)
  • To seek/source resources
  • To ask additional questions (you’ll probably get a faster answer than emailing me or other UFPA staff directly)
• Here are upcoming webinars (both hosted by Consumer Brands Assn and both on 3/20):
  • https://consumerbrandsassociation.org/events/webinar-covid-19-overview-of-coronaviruses-and-the-current-situation/
  • https://consumerbrandsassociation.org/events/webinar-covid-19-facts-and-fiction-for-the-food-industry/
  • These will also be recorded and CBA is great about posting quickly, so in light of their limited webinar capacity, if you’d rather wait for me to send out an on-demand link, please hold off on registering.
• On-Demand webinars
  • Consumer Brands Assn 3/16- with CDC, focused on food industry concerns
  • Assn of Food and Drug Officials 3/16 with Ian Williams from CDC, focused on food issues
• FSMA related issues:
  • If your supply chain disruptions have you sourcing from new suppliers, then to help comply with the Preventive Controls rule supply chain program or FSVP (as applicable), check out the attached resource from CBA
  • FDA just released draft guidance that they will temporarily not enforce the 3rd party audits that many importers use as verification for FSVP and the Preventive Controls supply chain program given travel restrictions.

2.    Where I’ll be: Well, I’m not traveling, but will still be participating in a Center for Produce Safety Technical Committee meeting this week. It’s great to see how we’ve collectively adapted.
3.    A huge thank you to all of you who make sure people can still access fresh produce!