The grocery industry is welcoming the release of the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s report, “Roadmap to Produce Safety: A Conceptual Framework.”
The Reagan-Udall Foundation for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at the request of the FDA, recently led a stakeholder dialogue process to explore new strategies for produce safety and the development of a collaborative entity to drive progress. The foundation gathered a wide range of stakeholders from agricultural communities, industry, academia, consumer groups and government to develop a shared understanding of the challenges and a vision for better protecting public health.
Now that the report has been widely released and distributed, the grocery industry is responding:
FMI – The Food Industry Association
FMI has expressed its appreciation for the FDA’s ongoing commitment to enhancing produce safety by sponsoring the Produce Safety Stakeholder Dialogue.
“FMI appreciates FDA’s continued commitment to improving produce safety, as well as the agency’s ongoing efforts to engage with stakeholders,” FMI Chief Science Officer and SVP of Food and Product Safety Programs Hilary Thesmar stated. “We share FDA’s interest in protecting and promoting the health of Americans, as demonstrated by our members’ years-long prioritization of produce safety and dedication to providing safe, wholesome and healthy products for consumers.
“Efforts to enhance produce safety require a collaborative effort across the entire produce supply chain and a continued focus on training, resources and research. FMI and our members deeply value collaboration, actively supporting and engaging with a wide range of produce safety stakeholders through participation in the Fresh Produce Coalition. We look forward to our continued work with FDA, state regulatory partners and the broader produce industry to ensure consumers have access to safe, affordable and abundant produce.”
International Fresh Produce Association
IFPA also has commented on the release of the Reagan-Udall Foundation’s report.
The association has shared its support of the report, emphasizing its appreciation for the collaborative approach and reiterated its call for adequate funding and future engagement with stakeholders.
“IFPA recognized the opportunity to represent our members in many of the working groups,” said Max Teplitski, IFPA’s chief science officer.
“We believe that such collaborative approach is fundamental in not only setting the direction but also committing to the shared responsibility to follow the roadmap to enhance produce safety from farm to fork.”
IFPA also recognized the FDA’s support and investment in the Produce Safety Dialogue process that informed the report. The process included more than 170 people who contributed to eight different working groups. This investment reflects the sentiment from both the participants and the FDA that ongoing collaboration and engagement across industry and regulatory groups will be critical to achieve measurable industry-wide impacts.
“While we stand ready to partner with our colleagues in industry and the FDA, we also continue to advocate for the need to focus on risk-based and risk-appropriate approaches to food safety, investment into the development of detection tools and protocols that are robust and reproducible, using meaningful datasets to drive action plans and for adequate allocation of federal and state resources to ensure the success of this collaboration,” Teplitski said.
In addition to this advocacy work, IFPA will continue to inform industry members on opportunities to contribute to these collective efforts to improve produce safety and increase consumer confidence.