New tool evaluates success of government’s safety efforts
By NACS Online // October 03, 2019
WASHINGTON, D.C.—This week, the FDA launched a dashboard, which the agency will use to post metrics relating to implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) law, reports Food Safety News.
Written by Ned Sharpless, FDA acting commissioner of foods and drugs, and Frank Yiannas, deputy commissioner for food policy and response, the article describes how the dashboard will track the progress and impact of the agency’s food safety system. The new Food Safety Dashboard is part of FDA-TRACK, a tool the FDA uses to monitor certain FDA programs and regularly updates to ensure transparency to the public.
The FDA believes it will take several years to establish trends in the data, but the initial data show that since 2016, most companies inspected have been in compliance with new food safety requirements and preventive control rules. Additional FDA data shows that, overall, the industry has improved the time it takes to move from identifying a recall event to initiating a voluntary recall. That process took an average of four days in 2016 but dropped to approximately two days in 2019.
The new dashboard introduces metrics for food safety outcomes and associated measures, and with it, the FDA hopes to see an overall reduction in foodborne illnesses attributable to FDA-regulated food products.
