bake - January 2017 - 14

food safety

Food Safety Compliance
COMPANION BAKING

Food safety concerns from consumers and regulatory organiza-

Audits: Model Accreditation Standards." The ﬁnal guidance

tions have never been higher. It is more important than ever for

contains FDA recommendations on third-party certiﬁcation

engineers, sanitarians and plant managers to understand the

body qualiﬁcations for accreditation to conduct food safety

proper equipment, plant, and process design that is fundamen-

audits and to issue food and facility certiﬁcations under the

tal to food safety. The American Bakers' Association (ABA),

voluntary third-party certiﬁcation program established under

along with other top food industry associations, is presenting a

the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

sanitary design workshop speciﬁcally for its members.
In November 2015, the FDA announced the implementing
The Sanitary Design Workshop is a unique educational oppor-

ﬁnal rule "Accreditation of Third-Party Certiﬁcation Bodies

tunity for anyone responsible for food safety in bakery facilities.

to Conduct Food Safety Audits and to Issue Certiﬁcations"

Participants will come away with practical and proven approach-

that establishes a program for the accreditation of third-party

es to cleaning, sanitary design, equipment layout, and person-

certiﬁcation bodies to conduct food safety audits and to certify

nel requirements that utilize veriﬁable, economically sound, and

that foreign food facilities and food produced by such facilities

HACCP-supported processes.

meet applicable FDA food safety requirements.

The workshop includes equipment design demonstrations using

Record keeping is a key component of the guidance. A third-

photos and prototypes, and the introduction of a process for

party certiﬁcation body seeking accreditation must demon-

continuous improvement.

strate that it has implemented written procedures to establish,
control, and retain records (including documents and data) for

Set for March 28-29 in Chicago, the workshop is geared for

a period of time necessary to meet its contractual and legal

engineers, sanitarians and plant managers from equipment

obligations and to provide an adequate basis for evaluating its

manufacturers, bakers, pasta makers and snack food producers

program and performance.

- as well as other low moisture food producers. To learn more,
visit americanbakers.org.

The third-party certiﬁcation body must have a written conﬂict of interest program. Further, a third-party certiﬁcation

Third-Party Audits

body's written procedures should include procedures for the

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Dec. 6 issued impor-

maintenance of current and accurate records relevant to the

tant guidance for the food industry (including bakeries) titled,

competence of its audit agents and others involved in certiﬁ-

"Third-Party Certiﬁcation Body Accreditation for Food Safety

cation activities.

14 < JAN 2017 | bakemag.com
http://www.americanbakers.org http://www.bakemag.com
bake - January 2017

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