LIGHTHOUSE FS & Q - FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
We know our clients have questions when it comes to food safety and quality. It's important to make good decisions when choosing a company for this purpose. Lighthouse FS & Q services will help protect and guide your business to meet food industry food safety and quality compliance requirements.
With the world population growing to 9 billion and land availability shrinking it's important for us to have new ways to track, analyze, and understand the way our food system works to reduce waste and provide the best food safety and quaility for our every growing population. A GMO is critical in food technologies. In 1994, the first modified tomato, the Flavr Savr, was approved by the FDA and put on the market. It quickly led to the development of other seeds, and by 1999, one hundred million acres were farmed with genetically engineered crops. Precision Agriculture (called satellite farming) can be used to monitor crop yields, soil levels, and weather patterns to increase efficiency on farms. Drones have become more popular to monitor productivity in farms, allowing farmers to locate or accurately access where they need to improve in certain areas of the farm. Sensors that can monitor and collect data on soil and monitor soil temperature and moisture levels remotely.
Technologies will improve the way we harvest food and monitor food safety now and in the near future.
Food suppliers are more closely monitored than they were 50 years ago. FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) was developed to protect the consumer and add strict regulatory guidelines to food producers. More government mandated regulation programs have been developed to make food safer now than ever before.
There are now general requirements for Equipment and facilities that process and pre-package food. Governments have outlined Food Sanitation Rules for the these facilities and mandated them to either be certified or trained in personal hygiene, proper cleaning and sanitizing food equipment, how to store in safe temperatures. Assigned managers and employees must be trained and certified if they are processing food or preparing it as pre-packaged.
The FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) requires farmers to maintain their farming records for a minimum of two years.
Yes. The FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) requires an independent 3rd party to complete an assessment of their operations.
It is currently in effect now, but the FDA is considering future rulemaking to modify the deinition of a farm in order to address owership issues. The earliest compliance date is January 26, 2018.
It is now manditory for all producers of food and food products to comply with the requirements as dictated by FSMA. All food producers of food products will adhere to a government of food standards that is designed to improve consumer health and make sure they meet these minimum requirements.
Regardless if you are a 3rd party company . . . they too will have to meet FSMA compliance if they produce, grow, or pre-package food.
Employees with supervisory roles are required to become (through training) qualified individuals. This means that the qualified individual can provide training on food safety themes to other employees.