Latest news with #FoodSafetyModernizationAct
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
World Wide Farms Partners with ReposiTrak to Strengthen Food Safety and Supply Chain Transparency with End-to-End Traceability
Leading Purveyor of Fresh Herbs and Greens Chooses the World's Largest Traceability Network to Collect and Share Accurate Food Data CHICAGO & SALT LAKE CITY, April 22, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--World Wide Farms, a leading grower, packer, and distributor of fresh culinary herbs and greens, has announced its use of the ReposiTrak Traceability Network® for inbound and outbound traceability data sharing. This collaboration amplifies World Wide Farms' commitment to food safety, regulatory compliance, and supply chain transparency by leveraging ReposiTrak's advanced traceability solution for the exchange of accurate traceability data. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Wauconda, Ill., World Wide Farms has remained dedicated to sustainable farming practices and the delivery of high-quality produce. With operations throughout the United States and Mexico, the company supplies major retailers and food service providers across the Midwest. By adopting the ReposiTrak Traceability Network, World Wide Farms is enhancing its ability to collect and share traceability data in compliance with the FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) 204, set to take effect in 2028. "At World Wide Farms, our commitment has always been to delivering safe, fresh, and sustainably grown herbs and greens," said Daniel Lyons, President of World Wide Farms. "To uphold that promise, we needed a highly accurate traceability solution for both inbound and outbound shipments. Partnering with ReposiTrak not only positions us well for upcoming regulatory changes – it also enhances our supply chain transparency and boosts operational efficiency." Every data file received by ReposiTrak is put through a comprehensive 500+ point error detection process to ensure accuracy and consistency. When errors are identified, notifications are sent and ReposiTrak's U.S.-based team works directly with suppliers to make the necessary corrections. This hands-on approach ensures that the data is as accurate as possible before it's shared with World Wide Farms' customers. "We are thrilled to welcome World Wide Farms to our growing traceability network," said Randy Fields, chairman and CEO of ReposiTrak. "Traceability is a food safety issue that requires a supply chain solution – especially for companies like theirs that are responsible for inbound data from growers and outbound data for customers. Every date file we receive is put through a rigorous set of controls to ensure accuracy BEFORE the data gets stored and/or passed along. It's something that sets us apart and that we're proud to share with World Wide Farms." By adopting ReposiTrak's traceability solutions, World Wide Farms is taking a proactive step toward a more resilient and trustworthy food supply chain. About World Wide Farms Founded in 1986 and part of Hoffmann Family of Companies, World Wide Farms is a premier grower, packer, and distributor of fresh culinary herbs and greens. With farming operations in the United States and Mexico, the company is committed to sustainable agriculture and delivering high-quality produce to retailers and food service providers across the Midwest. For more information, visit About ReposiTrak ReposiTrak (NYSE: TRAK) provides retailers, suppliers and wholesalers with a robust solution suite consisting of three product families: food traceability, compliance and risk management and supply chain solutions. ReposiTrak's integrated, cloud-based applications are supported by an unparalleled team of experts. For more information, please visit View source version on Contacts Rachel BerkowitzWorld Wide Farmsrberkowitz@ Derek HannumChief Customer OfficerReposiTrakdhannum@ Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Wire
22-04-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
World Wide Farms Partners with ReposiTrak to Strengthen Food Safety and Supply Chain Transparency with End-to-End Traceability
CHICAGO & SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--World Wide Farms, a leading grower, packer, and distributor of fresh culinary herbs and greens, has announced its use of the ReposiTrak Traceability Network® for inbound and outbound traceability data sharing. This collaboration amplifies World Wide Farms' commitment to food safety, regulatory compliance, and supply chain transparency by leveraging ReposiTrak's advanced traceability solution for the exchange of accurate traceability data. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Wauconda, Ill., World Wide Farms has remained dedicated to sustainable farming practices and the delivery of high-quality produce. With operations throughout the United States and Mexico, the company supplies major retailers and food service providers across the Midwest. By adopting the ReposiTrak Traceability Network, World Wide Farms is enhancing its ability to collect and share traceability data in compliance with the FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) 204, set to take effect in 2028. "At World Wide Farms, our commitment has always been to delivering safe, fresh, and sustainably grown herbs and greens," said Daniel Lyons, President of World Wide Farms. "To uphold that promise, we needed a highly accurate traceability solution for both inbound and outbound shipments. Partnering with ReposiTrak not only positions us well for upcoming regulatory changes – it also enhances our supply chain transparency and boosts operational efficiency." Every data file received by ReposiTrak is put through a comprehensive 500+ point error detection process to ensure accuracy and consistency. When errors are identified, notifications are sent and ReposiTrak's U.S.-based team works directly with suppliers to make the necessary corrections. This hands-on approach ensures that the data is as accurate as possible before it's shared with World Wide Farms' customers. "We are thrilled to welcome World Wide Farms to our growing traceability network," said Randy Fields, chairman and CEO of ReposiTrak. "Traceability is a food safety issue that requires a supply chain solution – especially for companies like theirs that are responsible for inbound data from growers and outbound data for customers. Every date file we receive is put through a rigorous set of controls to ensure accuracy BEFORE the data gets stored and/or passed along. It's something that sets us apart and that we're proud to share with World Wide Farms.' By adopting ReposiTrak's traceability solutions, World Wide Farms is taking a proactive step toward a more resilient and trustworthy food supply chain. About World Wide Farms Founded in 1986 and part of Hoffmann Family of Companies, World Wide Farms is a premier grower, packer, and distributor of fresh culinary herbs and greens. With farming operations in the United States and Mexico, the company is committed to sustainable agriculture and delivering high-quality produce to retailers and food service providers across the Midwest. For more information, visit About ReposiTrak ReposiTrak (NYSE: TRAK) provides retailers, suppliers and wholesalers with a robust solution suite consisting of three product families: food traceability, compliance and risk management and supply chain solutions. ReposiTrak's integrated, cloud-based applications are supported by an unparalleled team of experts. For more information, please visit
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Food Safety Was Slipping in the U.S. Then Came Mass Layoffs
Boar's Head deli meats recall notice at a deli counter in a Queens, New York grocery store. Credit - Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Even before the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) eliminated 10,000 jobs on April 1, people who watched the agency closely were concerned about food safety. Under a Biden-era reorganization, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cut millions of dollars for state-level food inspections, effective this year. Inspections of facilities were not keeping up with Congressional directives; the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report in Jan. 2025 urging the FDA to 'strengthen inspection efforts to protect the U.S. food supply.' And advocates were concerned because major parts of the landmark 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act—including rules that farmers must monitor the water they spray on vegetables for manure—were being delayed or rolled back. 'We have always had a problem with having adequate funding and staffing for the level of complication that is food safety in the U.S.,' says Darin Detwiler, a food safety advocate whose toddler son died of E. coli poisoning in 1993 during an outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants. This lack of funding has coincided with a number of food illness outbreaks in the U.S. in recent years—including, in 2024 alone, an E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions at McDonald's that killed one person, an E. coli outbreak linked to organic carrots sold in grocery stores (which also caused a fatality), and a listeria outbreak linked to Boar's Head deli meat that resulted in 10 deaths. Then came the job cuts. At the FDA, 2,500 people were laid off, including workers in the Human Foods Program, who are tasked with ensuring food safety, and scientists at a product safety lab in San Francisco that tests foods for bacteria. Also gutted were communications staff at both FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who helped coordinate response to outbreaks and informed both consumers and businesses about recalled food. And hundreds of workers at CDC's Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice lost their jobs; the organization coordinated government response to an outbreak of lead poisoning in 2023 linked to cinnamon applesauce pouches. Read More: Are Artificial Food Dyes Safe to Eat? In the month before the layoffs, the Trump Administration also cut two longstanding committees focused on food safety: the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection. The first was studying which babies might be at risk from the deadly bacteria found at an Abbott Nutrition infant formula plant; the second was looking at ways to use technology to improve food safety inspections. Now, safety advocates say, there is little doubt that the already-strained protocols for food safety in the U.S. are going to lead to more sickness. 'People will get sick, or worse, because the people who are charged with keeping our food safe were fired,' says Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, a health advocacy group. HHS did not respond to a request for comment for this story. In a recent press release, it said that the restructuring will save taxpayers $1.8 billion and will implement a new agency priority: 'ending America's epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins.' Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that no 'frontline jobs' like inspectors were impacted by the layoffs. But advocates say that frontline workers aren't the only ones responsible for food safety. Inspectors are supported by teams of people working in labs and offices who assist them with data, coordination, and science, says Faber. That includes people who perform surveillance of outbreaks and respond to them, and who work with manufacturers, consumers, and retailers and tell them that their food is contaminated and should be thrown away. 'It's an early 20th-century notion that protecting inspectors from being fired is how we keep food safe,' he says. 'But your food is not safe because someone with a clipboard walked through a food-manufacturing facility.' Even if, as the Administration argues, frontline workers are the linchpin to keeping food safe in the U.S., inspections of facilities have long fallen behind what is mandated by law. The last time FDA inspected the number of domestic food facilities mandated by the Food Safety Modernization Act, the landmark 2011 food safety law, was 2018, according to a 2025 GAO report. (The U.S. is supposed to hit this target every year.) In 2021, FDA did not inspect about 49% of high-risk facilities by the date it was supposed to; in 2019, that number was just 7%, according to the GAO. This is partly because the FDA does not have enough trained staff to conduct these inspections, according to the GAO report. In July 2024, the FDA had 432 inspectors, but nearly one-quarter were eligible to retire. It takes two years to train a new investigator. States perform a number of inspections in collaboration with the FDA. About 90% of inspections of produce facilities are done by states, and 50% of inspections of manufactured food facilities are done by states, according to Steven Mandernach, executive director of the Association of Food and Drug Officials, a nonprofit advocacy group. But funds for those inspections have been cut dramatically this year because of a Biden-era reorganization that went into effect this year, he says. State 'rapid response' teams that were tasked with moving quickly during outbreaks saw their budgets cut by around 60%, he said. States saw budgets for produce inspections cut by about 40%. And funding for states' manufactured food programs infrastructure and training was cut by about 50%. Read More: Why Some Food Additives Banned in Europe Are Still on U.S. Shelves 'I think the penalties for the food eaters is that we're going to have slower responses to food safety events, whether it be recalls, outbreaks, those sorts of things,' he says. 'We're going to have less monitoring of facilities. We're probably going to end up with less trained individuals out there doing the inspections. All of those things are bad overall for the system." State food safety departments are now scrambling to redistribute funding, says Katherine Simon, director of the food and feed safety division at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. In Minnesota, her department will have to cut back on administrative staff, she says, which will eventually make inspectors less efficient; the amount of time inspectors spend at any one facility will likely decline. People look to government jobs for stability, and one of Simon's biggest concerns is that the big funding swings make it difficult to commit to staffing year after year. The instability could motivate longtime experts to seek employment elsewhere, she says. Most of all, she says, amid these funding cuts, the food industry is changing at a rapid pace, making it difficult to keep up. 'It's really turning back the dial, and we are at a critical stage,' she says. Simon is also worried about the cuts at the CDC office that helps respond to outbreaks and implement preventative food safety practices. When states figure out that there's a local outbreak that is sickening people, they often reach out to the CDC's Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice for assistance, she says. That's what happened in North Carolina after the local health department found elevated levels of lead in children's blood and discovered that all the children had eaten WanaBana apple cinnamon fruit puree pouches. It's what happened in Flint, Mich. after the local health department found that water was contaminated by lead. But the Division of Environment Health Science and Practice was gutted by the April 1 layoffs, with only a few top leaders remaining, says Megan Weil Latshaw, a professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University. State health departments tend to be woefully underfunded, she says, so they call in the CDC to help. Now, they won't be able to anymore. 'We had a system in place that was there to monitor food safety and air quality and lead poisoning, and now that system is being decimated,' she says. Around 144 employees, almost the entire division, were laid off, according to a tally by former workers. Read More: They Hated Health Insurance. So They Started Paying For Each Other's Care The Division of Environmental Health didn't just coordinate after outbreaks. It also performed key research that led to food safety improvements, says Hal King, managing partner at the consulting firm Active Food Safety. The department researched best practices for food safety in restaurants; one of its successes was discovering that having a manager in charge of food safety improved conditions. Restaurants are now required to have a manager in charge of food safety. It evaluated the success of having letter grades for restaurants. It also researched ways to improve food worker behavior, such as persuading people to wear gloves when handling food or washing their hands after going to the bathroom. Most recently, it had conducted research in eight states about how to keep sick workers from transmitting illnesses to customers. The research had come up with some promising interventions, says a former CDC employee, but the fate of that research is now unknown because the employees coordinating it were laid off. (The employee did not want to give their name because they say they hope to get their job back.) Food safety advocates celebrated Congress passing the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2011, the first major change to laws policing food supply chains since 1938. It created mandates for how often facilities should be inspected, and also required facilities to be able to better trace the sources of contaminations in food. But many of the provisions of the law that food safety experts lauded have been delayed or rolled back. The food traceability rule, for example, was designed to ensure better recordkeeping, and was set to go into effect in Jan. 2026. But on March 20, 2025, the FDA announced that it was postponing the compliance date by 30 months after heavy lobbying by the grocery industry. 'The faster we can identify the source of an outbreak, the more lives are saved,' says EWG's Faber, but the postponement will make it harder to identify the source of food outbreaks. And a rule that farmers test their irrigation systems for pathogens, checking to see if the water they use to grow crops has traces of manure in it, for example, was switched to an 'honor system' test in May 2024, says Faber. What's most concerning about many of these cuts, food safety advocates say, is that the repercussions may not be apparent on paper. It may look like the country has fewer foodborne illnesses, or that fewer facilities are failing food inspections. But that doesn't mean the U.S. is healthier. It might just mean, they worry, that sicknesses caused by food safety are going unseen and undetected. Contact us at letters@
Axios
06-04-2025
- Health
- Axios
Key safety hotlines disrupted by HHS cuts
Teams manning government hotlines for reporting adverse events from foods, supplements and cosmetics, and call centers that provide other essential safety information, were among the thousands of Health and Human Services Department employees laid off last week. The big picture: Though the department is hurriedly calling some workers back, the episodes show how information blackouts are becoming a feature of the Trump administration's efforts to reorganize the health bureaucracy. "Very important offices that were directly involved with food safety and public health were axed," one FDA employee, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation, told Axios. Zoom in: The Food and Cosmetic Information Center fields tens of thousands of calls annually from consumers and industry representatives about recalls, nutritional information and food business requirements, along with unintended health consequences from using FDA-approved products. It also operates a toll-free number for information about the Food Safety Modernization Act, the law that regulates the production and distribution of food. Reports about health-related problems with cosmetics, infant formula, meat, poultry, restaurants and more can be made through online portals or over the phone. But communications and outreach staff within the FDA's Human Foods Program that operates the center were caught up in the workforce cuts that began last Tuesday. HHS's reorganization plan includes cutting communications teams across the agency and consolidating them into a central office. The FCIC staff were "swooped up with traditional communications," the FDA employee said. The phone hotline was available to take reports on Friday but the webform and online chats were offline. "All employees affected by the reduction in force may be asked to temporarily work until their government service ends on June 2," HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said when asked whether staff had been re-hired to manage the hotline. "This decision is focused on ensuring that the transition is as seamless as possible, minimizing any disruption to the agency's mission and operations," he added. Nixon did not respond to questions about the long-term plan for the center. HHS also laid off staff overseeing other hotlines that help people who want to quit smoking and new mothers with postpartum depression, per Stat. What they're saying:"The layoffs were random and arbitrary," said Steven Grossman, president of consulting firm HPS Group and former executive director of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA. "FDA functions associated with communications appear to have been heavily targeted because communications is to be centralized at HHS," he said in an email. There's "[n]o evidence anyone would have looked at this and said — specialized function not appropriate for centralization." Zoom out: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said staff cuts wouldn't compromise core agency functions. But some scientific roles were terminated, including at a San Francisco-area lab that supported food inspections and investigations, including testing for dangerous bacteria and heavy metals. The lab also analyzed food colorings and additives, which the new administration has said is a priority, per the New York Times. What to watch: Kennedy said after the layoff notices went out that 20% of terminated HHS staff could be hired back because of "mistakes," the Wall Street Journal first reported.
Politico
06-03-2025
- Health
- Politico
Califf: Do right by AI and patients
AROUND THE AGENCIES Former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf repeatedly pressed Congress to empower the agency to regulate AI in health care. Now out of government, he's continuing to press for AI governance in the sector. At this week's Cornell HealthNext AI Summit, he said he fears health systems will mostly use AI to increase profits. To use AI to improve care for patients, the industry must start tracking patients across health systems and measuring the impact of care on patients. That, the two-time FDA commissioner said on stage, will 'tell us a lot that a lot of what we're doing is bad for people, even if it makes money.' He spoke with Ruth about the industry's responsibility to make sure the technology is safely used on patients. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Last year, the FDA made the case that Congress should change how the agency is able to monitor AI after it's deployed. We were hoping to get a law passed that would produce a different set of regulations for AI. The really important thing about AI is the post-market, continuous evaluation in the setting in which it's used. And that can't be like a traditional device or a drug, where you have people at FDA, they're looking at it. It's much too big and expensive. I use the analogy of farming. FDA regulates food. We don't sit on the farm every day, and the farmer doesn't have to bring in his stuff every six months. They can inspect [products] every three years, every five years, depending on the risk. In between, there are 10 foundational rules, the Food Safety Modernization Act rules, that they're supposed to abide by. One difference is farmers don't want to sell food that makes you sick and the distribution system doesn't want to distribute it because the feedback is quick if things are bad. With AI, you can have things going wrong for a long time and not know it unless you're actually measuring. So it's a little different that way. But the general concept is that there needs to be an ecosystem, just like in agriculture. There's the farm, the people that get the food from the farm to the distribution center, get it from the distribution center to a supermarket or to the restaurant. At every step, there are people who follow best-practice guidance that comes from FDA or USDA. The FDA should be overseeing the standards. The implementation of the standards should be done by mostly health systems, but they have to change the way they're doing things for it to work. They have to actually create systems that follow patients over time completely, because you can't validate the operating characteristics of algorithms unless you have follow up, just like you're doing a study pre-market. Change how? [Health systems] don't interoperate the data. So if you go to Cornell for one thing and NYU for another, on a patient-by-patient basis, now, because of 21st Century Cures legislation, your doctor can get your individual record. What needs to happen is all those records need to be compiled. So let's say there's an algorithm applied at NYU and you die at Cornell hospital. There's no way to know that the algorithm did the wrong thing. But it's not a technological issue. What are your biggest concerns about AI in health care? If you let AI algorithms sit in an active system, it can drift to better or drift to worse — and you don't know unless you measure that. And I have this other big concern, which is the biggest use of AI medicine, that is to figure out what's profitable and what's not, and that's not directly related to what is best for human beings. The system has become increasingly financialized. The clinicians and the patients, in many ways, are financial objects that are being manipulated based on an assessment of where the money gets made. And of course, people have to make enough money to pay the bills, but that balance is out of whack, and AI can make it worse unless it's intentionally designed to measure the other part of it. What do you think about President Donald Trump's pick for FDA commissioner, Marty Makary? I don't know him at all. I sent him an email, he replied: I'll talk when the time is right. He hasn't in the past said very nice things about the FDA. But it's different when you're in the seat. It is different, as I like to say, when you get that first salmonella outbreak in lettuce, you really come to appreciate the people that know what they're doing. WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. If you were puzzled by President Donald Trump's statement in his address to Congress this week that $8 million in public funds went to 'making mice transgender,' RollingStone unpacks that for you: People who came up with that claim may have been looking at projects with 'transgenic mice,' which are altered to resemble the human immune response. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@ Daniel Payne at dpayne@ Ruth Reader at rreader@ or Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@ Are you a current or former federal worker who wants to share a tip securely? Message us on Signal: CarmenP.82, DanielP.100, RuthReader.02 or ErinSchumaker.01. FORWARD THINKING Medical debt's impact on America's future could be significant, according to new findings from Gallup and West Health. More than 1 in 10 people in the U.S. borrowed money last year to pay for medical expenses, with younger generations and people with children most impacted, according to the findings. The groups estimate that the amount borrowed in 2024 totals nearly $74 billion. That amount is largely made up of people borrowing between $100 and $5,000, according to the survey of more than 3,500 adults nationwide. Among those who haven't already gone into debt, many — nearly 60 percent of those surveyed — worry a medical expense could put them there. Why it matters: The findings come as most Americans count affordability and access to health care as their highest priorities for health policy, according to recent polling. The Trump administration and lawmakers in Congress have responded to those demands through an executive order demanding more transparency in pricing and legislation to place new limits on billing practices deemed unfair.
