RESOLVE Launches Second Phase of Forum on Food Safety

RESOLVE Launches Second Phase of Forum on Food SafetyMon, 28 Jan 2013 12:28:00 PSTWith the release of proposed rules on January 4, the FDA took a major step toward implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a 2010 law that overhauls how the agency governs food, moving to a more risk-based food safety system. RESOLVE has been very active on this issue. The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation jointly fund our Collaborative Food Safety Forum (CFSF). The progress on FSMA was front page news in both the New York Times and the Washington Post, and featured quotes from Mike Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods at FDA and our program officer at Pew, Sandra Eskin.We convened a series of CFSF discussions to engage key stakeholders in rigorous, collaborative, and creative problem-solving and consensus building dialogue to think through ideas for efficient and effective implementation of the law. Phase II of this work is underway with meetings timed to coincide with the roll out of these rules, providing stakeholders an opportunity for collaborative analyses.The website for the Collaborative Food Safety Forum provides information on the meetings held during Phase One, and will have information as Phase Two unfolds.RESOLVE also was involved in the design and facilitation of the Pew funded Produce Safety Project, convened by Georgetown University. This project included a series of five regional meetings that engaged stakeholders, particularly food growers and producers, in discussions on the current science underpinning considerations for improving food safety, particularly the “4 W’s” – water quality, waste management (including use of compost), wildlife, and worker hygiene. Input from these sessions provided context for the now released proposed rule for produce safety.