FDA debuts New Era of Smarter Food Safety blueprint

On July 13, Stephen M. Hahn, commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced the release of the New Era of Smarter Food Safety blueprint.

The New Era of Smarter Food Safety represents a new approach to food safety, leveraging technology and other tools to create a safer and more digital, traceable food system. Smarter food safety is about more than just technology. It’s also about simpler, more effective, and modern approaches and processes.

The blueprint outlines the work the FDA plans to undertake over the next decade to update its food safety approaches and bend the curve of foodborne illness. It includes work to enhance traceability, improve predictive analytics, respond more rapidly to outbreaks, address new business models, reduce contamination of food, and foster the development of stronger food safety cultures.

It outlines a partnership among government, industry, and public health advocates based on a commitment to create a more modern approach to food safety. The challenges that have arisen during the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated the need for actions called for in the blueprint, especially in times of crisis.