WASHINGTON, D.C. – Produce wholesalers and distributors now have a new tool to develop food safety plans that comply with FDA regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

“Wholesalers face many of the same food safety regulatory challenges that other members of the produce supply chain do under FSMA, but the unique nature of the wholesale produce business means the rules apply differently to these types of companies,” said Dr. Jennifer McEntire, Vice President of Food Safety & Technology, United Fresh Produce Association.  “It’s critical that wholesalers and distributors understand their responsibilities under the new rules, and this new publication provides step by step guidance on assessing how the rules apply to your operations and developing the appropriate company food safety plan.”

Developed with the support of the National Association of Perishable Agricultural Receivers (NAPAR), which had previously published a food safety plan builder for wholesalers written by Dr. McEntire, the new publication includes a summary of each of the major FSMA rules and how they impact wholesalers, including a step-by-step review of the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule, which requires the development of a food safety plan. The publication includes templates developed by the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance that companies can use to develop and implement their food safety plans.

“The Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule applies to facilities that are required to register with the FDA, which applies to most wholesalers and distributors,” said John Motley, President of NAPAR.  “These companies need to develop a food safety plan to be considered in compliance with this rule, as well as to meet customers’ expectations and requirements.” 

Wholesalers can download the new publication “How to Build a Food Safety Plan” on the United Fresh website for $100 for United Fresh members and $300 for non-members.

For more information on this publication and United Fresh’s wholesaler-distributor resources, please contact Miriam Wolk, Vice President, Member Services, at 202-303-3410.

Designed as a comprehensive overview of food labeling under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), this program explores the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the Code for Federal Regulations (Title 21), the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, and other valuable resource guides as they relate to food labeling. Through presentations and workshop exercises, this program builds your knowledge and confidence to navigate the U.S. food labelling landscape. Comprehensive resource materials, including an electronic copy of the Food Suite® Smart Tools US Food Labeling are provided as part of this training program.

Course Dates and Locations:

April 10, 2017
Minneapolis MN

May 1, 2017
Newark NJ

September 19, 2017
Orange County CA

Learn more at http://www.nsf.org/

Chick-fil-A, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Hardees deliver the best customer experience in the fast food industry, according to the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual customer experience ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers. 

Chick-fil-A took the top spot out of the 24 fast food restaurants included in this year's ratings, earning a score of 83% and coming in 2nd place overall out of 331 companies across 20 industries. Chipotle and Hardees tied for second place, each with a rating of 82% and an overall rank of 4th.

The ratings of all fast food restaurants in the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings are as follows:

1.   Chick-fil-A: 83%

2.   Chipotle Mexican Grill: 82%

2.   Hardees: 82%

4.   Subway: 81%

5.   Arby's: 80%

5.   KFC: 80%

7.   Baskin Robbins: 79%

7.   Dairy Queen: 79%

7.   Starbucks: 79%

10. Dunkin' Donuts: 78%

10. Papa John's: 78%

12. IHOP: 77%

12. Little Caesar's: 77%

12. Panera Bread: 77%

15. Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen: 75%

15. Sonic Drive-In: 75%

17. Burger King: 74%

17. Panda Express: 74%

17. Wendy's: 74%

20. Pizza Hut: 73%

21. Domino's: 72%

21. Jack in the Box: 72%

22. McDonald's: 71%

22. Taco Bell: 71%

"It's impressive that every single fast food company we looked at delivers a customer experience that's either "good" or "excellent," said Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

Overall, the fast food industry averaged a 76% rating in the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings and came in second place out of 20 industries. The average rating of the industry improved by five percentage-points between 2016 and 2017, going from 71.1% to 76.5%.

The ratings for all fast food restaurants increased between 2016 and 2017, except for Taco Bell, whose score decreased by two percentage points. Baskin Robbins and KFC improved the most, each gaining 12 points in the last year.

To generate the ratings, Temkin Group asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with a company across three dimensions: success (Can you do what you want to do?), effort (How easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (How do you feel about the interactions?). Temkin Group then averaged these three scores to produce each company's Temkin Experience Rating. In these ratings, a score of 70% or above is considered "good"; 80% or above is "excellent"; below 60% is "poor."

The 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings, along with other ratings, can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website, www.TemkinRatings.com. The free report, "2017 Temkin Experience Ratings," is available for download at the Customer Experience Matters blog (ExperienceMatters.blog) and at the Temkin Group website, www.TemkinGroup.com.

The FDA, CDC, and USDA/FSIS FDA issued a new Strategic Plan for 2017-2021 last week as part of the Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC).

IFSAC was created in 2011 to improve coordination of federal food safety analytic efforts and address cross-cutting priorities for food safety data collection, analysis, and use. Its projects and studies aim to identify foods that are important sources of human illness. IFSAC focuses analytic efforts on four priority pathogens: Salmonella, Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), and Campylobacter. CDC estimates that together, these four pathogens cause 1.9 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States each year.

Under the new strategic plan, IFSAC will focus on continuing to improve estimates of the sources of foodborne illnesses and developing methods to estimate how these sources change over time. The three goals of the new strategic plan are to improve the use and quality of new and existing data sources; improve analytic methods and models; and enhance communication about IFSAC progress.

The strategic plan outlines key objectives to achieve those goals, including:

• Enhance the collection and quality of relevant source data;
• Enhance the use of existing regulatory and foodborne illness surveillance data;
• Incorporate genomic data and other novel data sources;
• Explore ways to address key gaps in data quality, methods and models;
• Develop new analytic approaches and models to maximize use of existing data;
• Expand the availability of technical and scientific expertise through collaboration with internal and external partners;
• Enhance relationships and engagement with internal and external groups; and
• Improve the synthesis, interpretation and dissemination of analytical findings for multiple audiences.

The plan also highlights accomplishments from IFSAC’s first five years, and the group’s intent to continue engaging with stakeholders on future work.

For more information on IFSAC, please visit the collaboration’s website.