Are You a Step Ahead … or a Step Behind?

Ten years ago, when I started working in food safety, a very wise man told me, “If you are not a step ahead, you are already a step behind.” I have this saying posted above my desk, and every day I take these words and apply them to what I—and my food safety team—do. If there is one thing I have learned over the last 10 years, it is that being a step ahead can determine not only your company’s viability but also your existence.

Knowing things immediately, such as new regulations, new guidance, even what the lawyers are thinking, can mean the difference between looking and acting knowledgeable, and looking as though you don’t care and are behind the times.

Imagine there is a new regulation regarding USDA Specified Risk Materials (SRM) for cattle. If you aren’t a step ahead, you will have to wait until your USDA inspector holds the weekly meeting with you and tells you that there is a new rule. Most likely, this will then put you in a rush to get it implemented, and the inspector will not have complete confidence in you and your knowledge.

Now imagine that a week earlier you received a tweet or email telling you this regulation is to be released next week. Imagine that meeting with your inspector, and that when he tells you of the new regulation, you provide him with your updated SRM program and show him that, not only have you already dealt with the change, you have also implemented it and trained your personnel. How would that USDA inspector feel about you and your company’s programs? Very different!

While this example is focused on USDA regulations for meats, it can be applied to any regulation or GMP and to meetings—or conversations—with any federal inspector, third-party auditor, or customer.
 

Staying a Step Ahead. So how do we stay ahead? With the technology and communication tools that exist today, it is almost inexcusable to wait for the government, a regulatory body, or even your customers to tell you what is going on in the industry. Your job is to inspire confidence in your knowledge and ability, and you can do this easily with the tools that currently exist.

Almost every regulatory body has a Twitter account. USDA tweets, FDA tweets, University Food Safety programs tweet, and even the lawyers tweet! You don’t have to tweet yourself to subscribe to these accounts. Rather, it is very simple to put a program on your computer that scrolls all the Twitter accounts to which you are subscribed. You can even have your smart phone beep at you every time there is a recall or when new information comes out about a specific subject that interests you. There are also multiple “apps” that provide real-time information.

Why is this better and more efficient? Twitter is instantaneous. Information about a recall or a regulation tends to hit Twitter hours before your email and days before an inspector would tell you. Remember, if someone in the industry does something stupid, such as using a forklift on a nonambulatory animal, and you find out about it within minutes from Twitter, you can be sure that within hours or days, word will get to your local inspection personnel to review all your procedures. Again, with the knowledge and information you received, you are already one step ahead by the time you are asked the questions and your program is investigated.

USDA, FSIS, and FDA all have email subscriptions for industry. These emails will automatically notify you about recalls, new regulations, export information, even very specific postings, such as an updated residue violator list.

There is so much information out there, and with technology, it is extremely easy to get. Don’t get caught behind the times. Staying a step ahead allows you to run your food safety program the way you want, rather than allowing someone else to dictate to you how to run it.

On this page are some resources for the information in this article. I also invite you to contact me directly with any questions on how to best utilize the multiple opportunities to stay informed.
 

Brian Honigbaum can be reached at bhonigbaum@giemedia.com. His twitter account is @FoodSafetyQA.