Food manufacturing and packaging go hand in hand.  What may not be so obvious, however, is that the links between the two are about to become a lot more, er, ineggstricable. That’s right, thanks to some pioneering work out of England, we’ve learned that eggs themselves may contain the answers to some of the world’s environmental woes. 

Scientists out of the University of Leicester in England are currently investigating the use of disposed eggshells, which currently either end up in landfill or are used in pharmaceuticals to help with cartilage and connective tissue problems. The biodegradable proteins found in the egg shell can be potentially formed into a starch-based plastic very similar to numerous forms of existing materials used in packaging warehouses. Sounds simple, but the outcome could bring great change to the packaging world. Find out more here

As the article explains: The aim of the current project is to adapt the proteins to create a starch-based plastic that could then "bulk up" existing plastics and be molded into anything from shop fitting to supermarket meal trays. The biodegradable composite material is being lined up to make egg boxes, to serve as a practical example of closed-loop recycling.

The world of EHS legislation, regulations and issues can be confusing at best sometimes, so it helps to have a little bit of clarity. That's why EHS This Week is launching EHS In Depth, a new interview series designed to look at the fundamentals of a particular EHS issue.

This week we're tackling a big one: the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) a huge piece of legislation that will revolutionize how companies in the food and beverage industry go about their business. In our inaugural broadcast I've invited industry specialist Jeremy Mawson to answer some key questions, including:

• What the legislation means to companies in the food and beverage industry.
• Where regulators are at in terms of rolling out the new rules.
• What kind of costs FSMA will mean to American businesses, and more.

Don't forget to write me at paul@ehsthisweek.com with any suggestions you have for future areas of discussion, and tune in to our weekly podcast on Friday afternoon when we discuss the week's top stories in environment, health and safety news.

We'd like to congratulate three excellent clients who have earned the distinction of being included in Gartner’s Supply Chain Top 25 for 2011.

Nestle, 3M and Kraft Foods have all been included in this year’s report. For the past seven years, Gartner has compiled supply chain research to raise awareness of the supply chain discipline and how it impacts business.

The results of this year's ranking and a discussion on where the Supply Chain Top 25 is heading in the future can be found here.

Congrats!

Sustainability can be incorporated into corporate culture if concepts relating to environmental and social impacts are communicated in clear and meaningful ways, according to Dave Stangis of Campbell's Soup Company who recentlysat down with GreenBiz.com's Nature of Business Radio for a chat on the evolution of sustainability.

As VP of Corporate Social Responsibility at Campbell's, an Intelex client, Stangis has championed environmental and social responsibility and in three short years has made Campbell's a leader in CSR, having cultivated an environment of collaboration within the company.

According to Stangis, business leaders must "translate these concepts of social impact, environmental performance improvement, employee engagement, community involvement into ways to make their jobs better, more impactful, and improve their innovation and productivity, it's a whole different world. All of a sudden it's a tool and not an obstacle. And that's really the goal."

Listen to the entire chat over at Greenbiz.

As any American food producer knows, the landscape of food safety is changing.

Back in January, President Barack Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) into law. The act, a sweeping bill with the most significant changes to food safety in nearly 70 years, will affect thousands of food producers across the U.S. and, in light of some new stringent rules related to imports, around the world as well.

Specific requirements of the act have trickling out of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) throughout the year, including mandatory recall powers for the FDA, increased protection for whistleblowers, the ability to hold products that may be mislabeled, and more.

But the full scope of the rulemaking that follow the FSMA will only be known as the act is implemented over the course of the next year.

However, businesses who want up-to-the-minute news on implementation progress ought to head to the FDA’s FSMA online resource. This site features an array of helpful information and tools on all aspects of the FSMA, including a fantastic implementation timeline, as well as the opportunity to sign up for handy email updates on breaking FSMA news.

Don’t forget: the first set of rules issued under the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) are set to take effect in just over a week, on July 3.

The new rules give the FDA the authority to hold food products that may be contaminated or mislabeled and require organizations importing food to disclose whether another country has rejected or refused the product. The rules are designed to ensure the FDA is better equipped to target foods that may pose a risk to public health.

The new regulations are in addition to the Act’s current scope, which allows the FDA to:

• Demand records of other food products that have a reasonable probability of serious adverse health consequences If the FDA finds a “reasonable probability” food has been misbranded, adulterated, or capable of generating serious adverse health consequences, it may issue a mandatory recall.
• Boost protection of whistleblowers who report violations or testify.
• Increase the frequency of inspections and use a risk-based model to prioritize inspections.

As more FSMA rules come down the pipes in the next 12 months, and as the new requirements take effect next week, it is up to all U.S. Food and Beverage companies to take action now, by implementing food safety management systems, documenting detailed food safety plans, focusing on companywide hazard identification and risk mitigation (along the lines spelled out in HACCP), and prepare for a higher frequency of inspection.

The North American Summit on Food Safety held in Toronto on March 8 - 9 was a clear success. 

Attendees from all over North America gathered alongside successful vendors to address the most crucial safety topics in the food industry to date.  The Food and Beverage Team from Intelex Technologies in Toronto took advantage of the opportunity to display key solutions on these issues, including products such as the Intelex Quality Management System, which helps ensure regulatory compliance and drive continuous improvement in the workplace.   

“It was a very informative conference with great presentations”, commented Bevin Lyon, a senior solutions expert from Intelex. “This gave us a chance to meet with our valued clients, such as Campbell’s Soup Company and Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee.”

 Intelex looks forward to the next Food and Safety Summit in 2012, with hopes that it will be conveniently close to home once again.

The biggest update on food safety legislation in nearly a century was passed by Congress in the final days of 2010. Food producers and distributors would be excused for wondering ‘So what next?’

The short answer is ‘sit tight’.

Yes, Congress managed to pass this huge piece of food legislation (signed into law earlier this week) in the dying days of what was supposed to be an ineffectual lame-duck session (but by historical standards was vastly productive). And yes, the bill was sweeping, granting the FDA mandatory recall powers as well as the ability to increase inspection frequencies, target high-risk sites, boost farm oversight, and better trace food-borne illnesses to their sources.

But businesses with an appetite for clear details on what exactly will be expected by the FDA in the coming months might be left a little hungry. While the legislation has been safely passed, there are a number of roadblocks and executive hurdles to overcome.

So when will the changes be fully implemented? Well, some take place immediately. For example, the FDA’s mandatory recall authority is already active. Other provisions are affected by rulemaking processes and funding.

Rulemaking

As with most pieces of sweeping legislation, Congress only sets out broad goals and guidelines. Specific targets and rules will be developed by the FDA through the rulemaking process, which will take place over the next nine to 18 months. During this time, the FDA will engage stakeholders in an extensive series of consultations to flesh out exactly how the rules will manifest. For example, while the call for written plans on food safety protocols and hazard mitigation is mandated by the act, the exact requirements of the documentation won’t be established by the FDA for a number of months.

Funding

The FDA must also be sufficiently funded to ensure legislation is implemented. The funding the agency is awarded each year directly affects staffing, inspection capacity, and the scope of operations. A number of members of the incoming Republican-dominated Congress have already declared they will fight to trim the budget package back.

In the meantime, proactive businesses can soften the blow some of the eventual requirements by:

• Implementing a food safety management system.
• Document detailed food safety plans.
• Emphasize hazard identification and risk mitigation across the entire organization.
• Prepare for increased inspection frequency.

Foodsafety.gov features some tips on what the new law means to businesses and consumers, and Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg, U.S. Commissioner  of Food and Drugs, has an excellent blog post on how the new bill is all about prevention.

A sweeping food safety bill passed in the U.S. senate today, marking the first significant changes to food safety in the States in nearly 75 years.

In a rare show of bipartisan accord, the senate voted 73 to 25 to pass a slightly watered-down version of a bill that was passed by the House last year. The Food Safety Modernization Act would significantly boost the powers of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is designed to enable the organization to proactively address unsafe food issues before outbreaks occur.

In particular, the bill would give the FDA the power to:

• Increase the frequency of inspections and target high-risk sites.
• Recall tainted foods.
• Boost oversight of individual farms.
• Better trace food-borne illnesses to their source, and more.

Last year’s House-sponsored bill featured even more frequent inspections and an annual fee for food producers, but these requirements were removed or modified. However, the Senate added a provision that requires grocery stores to post complete and prominent lists of recalled food items and other food-related consumer alerts.

But proponents of food safety reform have indicated the new bill is better than nothing, as it will still affect nearly 80 per cent of food producers. It will cover fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, processed foods (not containing meat) and, critically, eggs. The current focus on food safety is attributable in large part to last summer’s recall of nearly half-a-billion eggs suspected of salmonella contamination, a move that spelled significant costs for the industry.

While some criticism of the bill was raised by small, organic farmers who argued that they should not be subject to the same rigorous and costly oversight large industrial producers face, an addition to the bill exempts small farmers who sell food locally and net less than half-a-million dollars in annual sales.

The revised bill still has to make it through the House once again before it becomes law, but pundits are divided on whether lawmakers will hastily accept the Senate’s modified bill, in particular by the time the Republicans claim their recently won House and Senate majorities in early 2011.

Food safety uncertainty? HACCP hiccups? Supply chain strain? You’re not alone. In recent years, food safety issues have been a part of the daily news cycle. Between food recalls, devastating food-borne illnesses, and movements by western governments to tighten food safety regulations, the relationship between global food companies and consumers has never been more apparent.

For the unprepared business, achieving the highest level of food safety performance can be costly and overwhelming. Fortunately, there’s help. The Global Food Safety Resource Centre (GFSR) is an amazing new resource designed to walk organizations through the increasingly complex task of complying with food safety regulations, implementing food management systems, or learning more about cutting edge developments in food safety leadership and technology.

Whether you’re looking for easy access to food safety specialists, guidance on complying with food safety regulations and standards, or extensive resources on industry best practices, news and technology, GFSR is positioned to be the one-stop-shop for food safety leadership.

“Food safety and security have become critical issues; it’s a challenge for many food businesses to implement a HACCP-based food management system, the costs associated with it can be onerous, especially during the global economic crisis,” says Tina Brillinger, President and Founder of GFSR, noted in a statement from the new Toronto-based organiuzation. “Many food businesses are struggling to make ends meet with little-to-no resources to help them. GFSR helps fill this void by giving businesses throughout the food supply chain, regardless of their size, equal access to resources they can trust.”

GSFR has a no-fee, open membership that ensures anyone with access to the system is a qualified food safety expert or a verified member of the food safety community.

If you want to position your company as a food safety leader, learn more about or simply prevent your organization from becoming the next headline, take a look at GFSR’s free offering.