Ensuring Food Safety in a Pandemic

These are not easy times for the food and packaging Industry. The entire farm-to-fork production and delivery chain has been put under tremendous stress with major virus induced disruptions. For food manufacturers, the implementation of social distance rules have brought in a collateral damage to business prospects as this has severely handicapped the entire workforce. Regular inspections by FDA and USDA have been put on hold. This unprecedented situation has presented a unique opportunity for businesses – this is the time to go for fully automated production and remote monitoring mechanism with minimal human intervention. An establishment of a proper mechanism in consultation with food lawyers will ensure a strict adherence with the PACA law and other food safety laws.

While there is yet no evidence that COVID – 19 can be transmitted through food packaging; there are always chances of the virus staying alive on a surface for a few hours after coming into contact with an infected individual. In the meanwhile, food supply operations have been classified as essential services. This basically means continued operations in the face of severe challenges with adequate protective mechanism. 

The Way Forward 

It is imperative for food safety teams to continue operations in manufacturing units while looking at possible ways at minimizing virus exposure and health impact on staff. Food safety guidelines have been recently published and it stresses mainly handwashing, employee hygiene, following SOPs and GMPs, avoiding contamination and following well established food safety management practices and programs. The bottom-line is to ensure proper hygiene in accordance with the food safety laws across the entire chain which is expected to keep the virus at bay. Installation of adequate working mechanism in consultation with food safety lawyers will go a long way in this fight against the pandemic.

What is PACA Act?

Bodner Law PLLC has been providing legal aid to producers and distributors of fresh fruits and vegetables throughout United States. This domain of business is covered by the Perishible Agricultural Commodities Act, otherwise known as PACA Law which applies to all dealings with a receiver, consignee, broker or buyer. Given the high level of contribution of the agricultural sector to the overall US economy, this food law overlooks the protection of rights and interests of all involved in compliance with

state and federal food laws.

Since this industry deals with perishable commodities and often vague invoices without all terms and conditions mentioned, the Produce law fills in for all the un-mentioned points and provides automatic terms to produce transactions. These terms apply even when the two involved parties have not explicitly agreed to these terms. 

The produce law has been framed by keeping in mind the interest of the monetary institutions who lend loan to the agricultural producers. For any traders in USA who are involved in buying, selling or dealing with fresh or frozen agricultural products must be aware of the ethics of PACA law to avoid litigations.

The scope of work under PACA law involves everything on legal advice and guidance involving day-to-day transactions along with solving legal disputes arising out of unique unforeseen scenarios in the food industry. Food Safety Lawyers provide legal assistance pertaining to adulteration and misbranding of food products and work for protecting the food rights of common US citizens. They also assist the corporate agricultural establishments in obtaining administrative and governmental approval for projects involving perishable agricultural commodities. Representing a vital part of federal legal system, these competent lawyers execute their responsibilities by catering valuable advice to the clients on the rules and regulations of PACA law and its impact on various aspects of commercial transaction.

Experienced attorneys from the legal firm represents manufacturers, distributors and retailers in the food, beverage and related industries in a wide variety of matters including Vendor Agreements, Food Safety Compliance, PACA litigation, Vendor disputes and Federal Food Security Act Litigation.

What is the Federal Food Security Act?

The Food Security Act of 1985 is designed to prevent the conversion of wetlands into non-wetland areas. All the features of the Act are alternatively also referred to as the “Swampbuster” provisions. While establishing a dairy herd buyout program, the act also provisioned for lower commodity prices and income support for farmers. 

The Federal farm program benefits are made inaccessible to farm producers who have converted wetlands into cultivable lands after December 23, 1985. Inadvertent violations were considered through the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 where farmers gain access to all lost benefits if the converted wetlands are restored to original conditions.

                       

The Federal government is allowed to get into contracts with agricultural producers for removing highly erodible cropland from production in exchange for annual rentals. Wetlands, converted wetlands, highly erodible lands and agricultural lands are the natural resources governed by the Act.

The benefits denied to a producer, who has cultivated agricultural commodity on converted wetlands are as follows:

 commodity price support or production adjustment payments;

·         farm storage facility loans;

·         disaster payments;

·         payments for storage of grain owned or controlled by the Commodity Credit Corporation;

     Federal crop insurance; and

 FMHA loans

For better details on Food Safety Laws you can visit reputed law farms dealing in Food Law who can provide you with highly efficient food lawyers to advice you on your legal issues..

Food Safety Compliance: Rules and Regulations

There is no official definition of food safety, mainly because the laws and guidelines should be followed depending on where and what sort of food service you provide. However, each restaurant should follow certain basic rules for food safety. HACCP has also been created to serve its customers and help companies in food facilities. HACCP is a globally recognized system of food management that addresses food safety and regulates potential biological, physical and chemical hazards. It can be simply defined as a system which was set up to recognize potential food safety issues and methods to control them and also to reduce diseases and contamination among the customers. If you go through the official website of HACCP, you will find out that it contains a long list of how to recognize risks and methods to regulate them. The HACCP website is informative and worth reading thoroughly if you have time, but it can be condensed to a much simpler format.

Some of the food safety rules and regulations one should follow before setting up a business are as follows:

Food and General Supply Storage:

Food, Spices and other edibles should always be kept away from the cleaning supplies. This implies that the cleaning machine should not be positioned closer to the kitchen area or the food preparation and storage region. Everybody should follow cross-contamination prevention practices before or while moving between the two areas.

Cleaning Processes Should Always Be Clear:

Cleaning processes and sanitizing rules for all food services include proper hand washing procedures, cleaning and sanitizing techniques for the kitchen, dining and food storage areas. Also, don’t forget about the region of waste disposal. An important element of operating a secure and tidy restaurant is proper disposal of waste and recycling. Dirty dumpsters attract pests, and many pests are hard and expensive to get rid of once they have gone in.

Raw Meats, Poultry, Seafood and Eggs Pose Potential Risk:

Items like raw meats, seafood, eggs and poultry should always be stored away from all other food items. All of these should have a separate preparation area with separate cuttings boards and washing stations and all should be color coded for easy and quick identification. This will help prevent cross contamination which is one of the major problems, every restaurant faces today.

Proper Dry Storage and Refrigeration:

Appropriate refrigeration and dry storage is crucial and everyone should follow the process rules. For proper storage and processing, product labels should always be verified.

Maintain Accurate Records:

Food safety compliance implies that you need to maintain accurate records of all you do. This includes food temperature logs, ordering histories, task checklists and corrective action logs when things don't go as scheduled. If your restaurant is ever audited or inspected, these things should help you in proving that you have taken care of every little detail.

A Comprehensive Overview on Food Law Basics

Starting a business and running it successfully is indeed an intimidating task. Every industry comes with a range of regulations, conventions which, certainly need to be dealt with tactfully. Needless to say, the food and restaurant industry is growing rapidly and with more and more players in the race, the number of stringent practices is also increasing. This is where the importance of Food Law lies.

For entrepreneurs representing the food and hospitality industry, it is crucial to have proper knowledge of the legal aspects including safety instructions, imports and exports, traceability, product withdrawals, labeling and much more. Thus, it is of foremost importance to have a food lawyer by side, if you are planning to start a food-oriented business or already have been into trade. 

Importance of Food Lawyers in the Legal System

A Food lawyer study, make rules and use the same for improving the food network serving different clients including chefs, non-profit organizations, farmers or the restaurateurs. They mostly cover a diverse range of legal aspects including contracts, zoning, constitutional, environmental, international, animal and human rights, immigration, trade and patents. Thus, they generally boast interdisciplinary thinking while using the prevailing system in numerous inventive ways. 

At Bodner Law PLLC Firm, we legally represent an expansive clientele base including agricultural producers, livestock producers, value-added manufacturers, distributors and even restaurants. Thus, we have gained rich industrial experience, legal expertise and in-depth knowledge in bringing the most appropriate legal representation to clients.

 Common Problems faced by Food Entrepreneurs and Agricultural Producers

Aspiring food entrepreneurs and farmers often start focusing on their product line instead of making the business more strong and stable. Though their products turn to be quite interesting and appealing, however, they need to build their business strong for achieving success. To be more precise, they need to lease a facility or land, draft the non-disclosure agreements, develop solid trademark and develop accounting systems and much more. Thus, the focal point is; if you are not much savvy and do not have these type of skills, then it is important for you to build a comprehensive team and set up a solid foundation for laying the foundation and roll it out properly with the guidance of a food lawyer. Unlike many other industries, the food industry players require rich working knowledge through a range of professional disciplines. 

Recent Standpoint of Food Law

Regulations and conventions related to Food Law have seen drastic changes over the recent years, which are bound to continue as well. Some of the updated legal requirements including the ones growing out of FDA’s and FSMA modifications to Nutrition Facts requisites are settling down. Nowadays, the new administration might lead to dramatic improvements with a different approach to regulation. Emergence of all new product categories related to cannabis further leads you to challenge some of the conventional regulatory and legal approaches. 

Be you are a startup restaurateur, hotelier or an agricultural producer, it is of foremost importance to have detailed knowledge about the food laws and have a legal expert by side. This, in turn, will not only help you to comply with the legal and ethical grounds of your business but, also hold an unscratched reputation in the market.