New Tool From the FDA: Food Safety Plan Builder

Several news outlets reported last week on the FDA's launch of a new tool geared towards smaller businesses. Food Safety Plan Builder (FSPB) was developed to help companies impacted by FSMA build food safety plans that meet the requirements of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food regulation. The tool, which is available for download from the FDA website, guides users through sections on, among others, facility information, hazard analysis and preventive controls determination, recall plan, and preventive controls for food allergens, sanitation, and supply chain. 

Determining gaps in food safety programs

Hopefully, the tool is easy to use and helps companies determine gaps in current programs rather than starting over on a new plan. While FSPB sounds like a promising addition to FSMA readiness, and is a good starting point to a food safety plan that is in compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), there are many great consultants that we’re partners with that provide customized planning and gap analysis, such as The Acheson Group, HACCP Consulting Group, D.L. Newslow & Associates, and Newmann Risk Services. These organizations can provide valuable guidance to extend the tool even further, ensuring that companies are covered and improving operations along the way. David Acheson of The Acheson Group downloaded the tool and had a look at it. He commented, "Once you get in there, there's a lot of good questions. There's a lot of things that are leading you through the thought process." He continued, "If you're wondering whether there's some tools out there from the regulators to help you build your food safety plan, the answer is 'Yes', they are now alive and well and—take a look. There's some good stuff in there."

Ensuring everyday execution and FDA compliance

And of course, with any food safety plan, the devil is in the details of everyday execution and ensuring that you’re complying with FSMA—and that’s where SafetyChain comes in, with easy-to-use tools to help successfully implement a preventive-based approach to food safety & quality management—with real-time data analysis against requirements, time- and date-stamped records easily accessible for inspections and audits, and analytics to improve everyday performance.

Great job FDA, in extending a new tool to the food safety community as part of the larger FSMA ‘vendor’ team's efforts to help companies!

SafetyChain believes in empowering food companies with industry insights and knowledge, and to that end, we have partnered with Dr. David Acheson and The Acheson Group for FSMA Fridays. Each month we explore another top-of-mind FSMA topic, review current developments pertaining to FDA, and more! Register for our monthly series at FSMA Fridays and join our group on LinkedIn. Interested in learning how SafetyChain can help with solutions that provide the program automation, data intelligence, and tools needed to dramatically improve compliance and audit readiness? Download our datasheet on the four key ways SafetyChain Software helps ensure GFSI compliance and FSMA readiness.