As you likely know, the FSMA Preventive Controls rule becomes effective for many companies next month (and the Supplier Preventive Control rule will be in effect next March). This includes some of the most sweeping changes in our industry in the past 70 years. The most significant changes include updated Current Good Manufacturing Practices and development of a Food Safety Plan that will likely contain Preventive Controls. For PacMoore, this means we’re now in the process of updating our existing programs to account for the new requirements, including updates to our BRC Food Safety Management System and Food Safety Plan.
Unique Compliance Needs for Contract Manufacturers
At PacMoore, our role with FSMA compliance is unique, since we are a contract manufacturer. This means that our customer is often also our supplier. As a result, we need to approach the Supplier Preventive Controls rule from an alternate perspective.
We’ve gotten a head start by offering in-house FSPCA Preventive Controls training classes where we have invited our customers and vendors to learn alongside us. This has allowed an exciting opportunity to collaborate and share ideas on how we will be implementing the new requirements effectively. It is encouraging to have participation across multiple levels of management and departments, further allowing a unified approach.
Training and Continuous Improvement
We will continue to offer additional training and invite our customers and vendors to join us as we are on this journey together. As part of our continuous improvement, we have also elected to participate in BRC’s “Unannounced option 2” audit scheme as of this year to serve as a positive example. Going forward, the BRC has offered an additional voluntary module as an “add-on” to provide an opportunity to demonstrate the new FSMA requirements have also been met.
Please reach out to us by commenting below if you
have questions on our FSMA preparation or would like to join us in an upcoming training opportunity.
And, as always, let us know if you are interested in utilizing any of our core food contract manufacturing capabilities – dry blending, spray drying, extrusion, consumer packaging, re-packaging, bulk loading or unloading, milling, heat treatment, or product development for any of these areas.