Food Safety Magazine, April/May 2009

NEWS BITES

IDSN Creates Industry-leading
Safety Registration Platform

On the heels of the largest product recall in U.S. history, IDSN Inc. ( www.foodcertificates.org) and its technology partner GeoDecisions, an information technology company specializing in geospatial technology, have created a registration database to identify every business associated with America’s domestic and international food supply chain through the Food Industry Safety Registration Agreement. The database is an open platform that allows for easy upload of documents and document management. It will be a centralized and scalable database of the entire food chain universe where companies can register their operations and products.

Intralox Honored with a 2009 European FoodTec Award

The European Food Tec Awards, sponsored in part by the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST), recognize food processing companies and suppliers that have developed products that contribute significantly to improving functions or processes. Intralox re-

ceived the Silver Medal for its well-reputed line of hygienic conveyance solutions. The Silver Medal is awarded for existing products that have undergone further development to achieve a significant improvement in function or process.

CIES Releases Its Annual

Top-of-Mind Survey

CIES, the global food business network, affirmed through its survey that the number one priority for the food industry in 2009 is the economy and consumer demand. The survey was based on a sample of nearly 600 retail and manufacturing decision makers across food and consumer goods industries in 54 countries. Food safety is the number two concern. The number three concern is corporate responsibility, missing second place by only 0.5%. Many industry observers have asked whether the best-laid sustainability plans of corporations would survive in a downturn. This survey suggests that sustainability can indeed survive in a global recession.

CIES is seeing its retail members take steps to limit cost risk in “ over-re-tailed markets,” via store closures where necessary and efficiencies or downsiz-ing in operational, logistics and back-office functions. Those retailers are also taking steps to address margin imbalance by increasing their private-label activities, presenting a risk for brand manufacturers.

The economic news is not all bad however. While the UK, for example, is deeply affected by the credit crunch and currently grappling with recession and a dwindling currency, the country’s food retail sector posted positive results over the December trading period, in spite of massive price cuts. While some premium players are suffering during the downturn, the “big four” supermarket groups made bullish announcements of job creation during 2009. Grocery retail can, therefore, potentially be a serious community employer and consumer advocate, even when the chips are down.

Dairy Industry Consortium
Launches Initiative

The dairy industry has unveiled a major initiative to build business value and meet the growing consumer demand for environmentally friendly products by committing to a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020. The announcement was made by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, an organization that brings together leaders from across the dairy value chain, including pro-

ducer groups, dairy cooperatives, processors and manufacturers. The industry-wide effort launches with a focus on the fluid-milk value chain—from farm to table—and includes a series of projects that will reduce energy use, increase efficiency and help the industry tap into new sources of income.

AOAC Research Institute Launches ERV Program

In recent weeks, many consumers have been sickened and nine have died from an outbreak of Salmonella in peanut butter and peanut butter products, resulting in the biggest food recall in U.S. history. The AOAC Research Institute, a subsidiary of AOAC INTERNATIONAL, has launched the Emergency Response Validation (ERV) program, which is designed to respond immediately to emerging food contamination crises by rapidly evaluating candidate methods once a crisis is identified. The ERV program takes advantage of the existing pool of performance-tested methods and AOAC Official Methods of Analysis that have been extensively tested, but may not have been evaluated for the specific contaminant and food type associated with the emerging contamination crisis.