Food safety seminar to look at role of technology

A web seminar offered Dec. 9 will look at how technology adaption by farmers, packers, shippers and processors can affect produce safety.

Offered jointly by iFoodDS, the Food and Drug Administration and the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, the web seminar is titled, “The Importance of Data in the New Era of Smarter Food Safety.”

The event is set for Dec. 9 at 2 p.m. Eastern, according to a news release. Registration for the web seminar is available online. 

Event organizers said speakers at the event will be Samir Assar, director of the division of produce safety in the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Diane Wetherington, iFoodDS executive chair of the board and Beth Oleson, director of food safety and education at the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.

“Data is a differentiator in most industries. Produce is no different,” Wetherington said in the release. “The produce supply chain can unlock the power of data by using it to not only mitigate food safety events, but more importantly, to help prevent outbreaks from occurring.”

The New Era of Smarter Food Safety, the FDA said in the release, is a new approach to food safety which leverages technology to create a safer and more digital, traceable food system.

The program blueprint, the release said, is built on: 

• Tech-enabled traceability;
• Smarter tools and approaches for prevention and outbreak response;
• New business models and retail modernization; and
• Food Safety Culture.