President Obama signed into law the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) last month, setting in motion sweeping changes for organizations in the food industry—both domestically and internationally.

Under the new law, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can conduct risk-based inspections of food processing facilities and require food producers to have food safety plans in place and updated every two years at a minimum. The FDA can also now mandate when a food company should conduct a recall, whereas past food industry-related recalls in the United States were predominantly undertaken voluntarily.

In considering the effect of the FSMA in the United States and globally, Katherine Cahill, Global Product Risk Practice Leader, recently noted, “As food safety has become complicated due to global supply chains and increased government, media and public scrutiny, it is among a company’s most critical areas of risk. The FSMA introduces many measures that can help companies improve their food safety efforts. If a company has not instituted best practices already, this new law may expose it to regulatory as well as other risk issues.”

To help clients comply with the FSMA, Marsh Risk Consulting’s (MRC) Global Product Risk Practice has created "Platinum Plate Protocols," which include services that range from developing a safety analysis and the creating processes and procedures for conducting product recalls to protecting whistle-blowers.

For more information, please contact us at: contact@marsh.com.