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Wholesale & Retail Food Alliance |
 | Food safety and regulatory news
News about how to safely prevent foodborne illness
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O. Peter Snyder, Jr. (Pete), founder of Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management, is pleased to provide you the latest information about food safety and changes in regulatory standards based on FDA and USDA regulations and HACCP science.
Dr. Snyder has educated thousands of executives, owners, chefs, employees, and home food preparers in recipe hazard analysis and self-control procedures for producing safe food. He has also consulted with numerous national corporations and local programs.
Dr. Snyder has traveled internationally as well, presenting his extensive knowledge of subjects such as HACCP food safety systems, HACCP-based Total Quality Management (TQM), industry self-control vs. regulatory inspection, etc.
The Wholesale & Retail Food Alliance welcomes his expertise and willingness to share his knowledge with you.
"Wholesale & Retail Food Alliance: providing a vision
for a better Wholesale & retail food industry worldwide,
establishing a quality improvement knowledge
base, and shared communication"
"To introduce you to the Wholesale & Retail Food Alliance, I would first like to tell you why it came into existence.
"RFA was established to provide a vision for a better retail food industry, worldwide, tomorrow. It then provides a plan of continuous quality improvement through Research and Development, followed by communication, whereby those who wish can use the information from this knowledge base. Product sales, contracts, dues, and gifts from industry, operators, and others, as well as onsite and online HACCP training and certification, support the program.
"Why worldwide? Today, and in the future, retail food operations from any one country can be expected to be everywhere in the world. It is very inefficient to have different retail food operating rules depending on what country one is in. This is especially true in terms of food safety. People are sensitive to the same hazards everywhere they are, and the same hazards can be found throughout the world. So, why should we use one set of rules to kill salmonellae in the U.S. and another in other countries? This will also allow the retail food process technologists to better share information and to do process FMEA (Failure Mode Effect Analysis) to improve safety, customer satisfaction, and efficiency.
"Industry self control. Specifically, one cannot rely on the government. Government has, as its primary responsibility, regulation and enforcement. Inspection is after the fact and does not prevent problems, especially when government control facts are out of date. The government is not accountable for providing correct, up-to-date prevention technology. It is not responsible for using the best people in a field to make decisions. It is not responsible for R&D to guide new process development.
"The perfect world of food safety is a world without government inspection and regulation, because industry is preventing problems and controlling hazards. This means that the government today should be trying to make the industry so good that government regulators are not needed. Actually, this poses a very serious conflict of interest for the regulatory system. It is not reasonable to expect government personnel to do anything that will eliminate their jobs and the jobs of people who work for them.
"Yes, there needs to be a government body that can prosecute the few operators who do not deal honestly with the consumer. Actually, though, without government intervention, the unethical operators are found out by their customers, who simply do not return, and those operators go out of business. Sometimes, the government sponsors research and development, and in this case, they are helpful if they sponsor the correct research. Most of the time, they sponsor basic research, while what is needed is retail food system applied research.
"The retail food system. What is included in the retail food system? The best specification is 'that point in the delivery of food to the consumer where the food is sold / given to the consumer, either in the raw form or prepared form.' It is the point of primary accountability.
"Why this specification? Because all food handing processes in this environment are the same. The cook / server / sales person is the primary point for assuring quality and customer satisfaction. It specifically includes the person who prepares food in the home, because the same food handling rules / recipes apply. One set of food science and technology fits all. The cook is the final critical control point to assure quality. First, the cooks are the ones to reject the food if it does not look good. Then, they do specific steps (e.g., cooking) to make it safe. Finally, they handle / serve it correctly so that the consumer will be pleased and nourished, and not be made sick when the food is eaten. Perhaps, the person farming the oysters is careful, and the oysters are safe. The cook / server, though, is still the person held primarily responsible for quality."
O. Peter Snyder, Jr., Ph.D.
Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management (HITM)
Article 200501 - 2000 (rev. 2005) |
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