HeavyConnect Blog

Carole Patterson is the Director of Compliance for Red Blossom, a strawberry grower with nationwide distribution and growing operations in the US and Mexico. Over the past 5 years, Carole has defined and executed Red Blossom’s food safety plan to support the company’s compliance initiatives. Carole joined us to discuss one of the most top-of-mind terms in the compliance world: Food Safety Culture. Our interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Although prevention is the gold standard in food safety practices, most pathogens aren’t entirely preventable and outbreaks are still inevitable. When a foodborne pathogen sickens consumers, a fast response can literally save lives. During E. Coli outbreaks in romaine lettuce between 2018 and 2021, there wasn’t sufficient accessible electronic data to allow a quick discovery of the source. Although the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) required some traceability recordkeeping, the rules weren’t stringent and allowed for paper and other manual methods of sharing records. 

After a new wave of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) outbreaks in romaine lettuce that started in 2018, leafy greens have been synonymous with risk even for those outside the food supply chain. Since the outbreaks, the industry has started taking additional steps to reduce the hazard and make leafy greens safer for consumers.

Episode: "Enabling Time Savings And Compliance In The Food Supply Chain"

This week Patrick Zelaya, HeavyConnect Founder & CEO, joined the Digital Supply Chain podcast with host Tom Raftery, Global VP at SAP. Listen to the episode where they discuss the time savings companies achieve by going digital with their Food Safety programs.

Your HACCP plan is a proactive approach to food safety management that aims to stop problems before they occur. You’ve already put in the time to thoroughly evaluate your facility’s processes, identify every potential risk, and get your organization on board with the necessary precautions. But did you know that a paper-based HACCP plan might still be costing you time and money?

Last week marks ten years since the FDA released the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011 in response to concerns about food safety and outbreaks. The new guidelines required an industry-wide shift in food safety rules and led to efforts across the supply chain to meet the new standards. This milestone is an opportunity to consider whether FSMA has been successful and where the next ten years will take us.

Since FSMA was introduced in 2011, the number of annual audits an average grower experiences has increased dramatically, all with the goal of improving food safety for the end consumer. Between internal audits, buyer audits, and federal annual audits, growers are experiencing more pressure than ever to rigorously document their food safety program or risk losing buyer relationships and harming their bottom line.

As food safety continues its digital transformation, audits will rely more and more on digital solutions. Growers have the opportunity to transition to digital compliance documentation in order to keep up with more frequent (and often partially-remote) audits. They can be ahead of the curve by going digital now, as regulatory bodies have started requiring that audit documentation be submitted digitally, a requirement which will eventually reach growers.

Produce shippers have a lot to juggle in order to meet regulatory requirements and buyer standards. They need to document extensive FSMA, GMP, and HACCP practices as well as local, organic, and buyer standards. In order to do this, they need access to up-to-date reporting from their various suppliers.

Food Safety Consultants are in a unique position to help farming operations across the country build stronger cultures of food safety, one of the core elements of the FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety. By using paperless food safety software to monitor client accounts, they can increase their working capacity and make an even bigger impact.

In July, the FDA released their Blueprint for the “New Era of Smarter Food Safety”, building on existing FSMA requirements. The FDA Blueprint identifies four main elements, which they consider to be foundational to the New Era of Smarter Food Safety: