OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. (Sept. 27, 2013) – The 2013 FISA Annual Conference was recently held in Savannah, Ga. FISA brings together independent distributors and manufacturers serving high purity and sanitary processing industries in food, beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical and Bio-pharm. At the conference, FISA featured a seminar from Allen Sayler, managing partner for the Center for Food Safety and Regulatory Solutions (CFSRS). During the seminar, Sayler addressed the key issues facing the industry, including hard-to- clean equipment, which ranked sixth on his list of problems needing to be addressed. Sayler’s comments are especially pertinent given the upcoming regulation derived from the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FMSA), which focuses on reducing risks from potential food sources and processes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one out of every six people in the U.S. is hospitalized annually from food-borne illnesses—and approximately 3,000 die. "The thoughtful approach that FISA and its members are taking to be proactively knowledgeable on this key topic along with services provided by CFSRS and others, will be essential to navigate and generate value from these food safety legislative changes," said Wallace Wittkoff, director Global Hygienic Segment for Pump Solutions Group (PSG). PSG is an operating company within Dover Corporation and a global leader of hygienic pump technologies. PSG was a participant and sponsor of the recent FISA conference.
Key takeaways from Sayler’s seminar for minimizing and preventing hazards were:
- Food Safety Plan, whereby essential elements, validated procedures and process controls will be documented for traceability and record keeping to ensure compliance.
- A timeline that includes a comment period up to November 2014 and enforcement to start from October 2015 to 2017, depending on size of the processor.
- Litigation that may force implementation (legislated or self-regulated) of portions of the plan sooner than the current estimated timeline.
- Clean-ability and prevention of cross contamination are the key focus for equipment manufacturers and suppliers.
A part of Dover’s Engineered Systems segment, PSG provides pumps, systems and related technologies. PSG’s portfolio of premium pump and other technologies service a broad array of quality industrial applications and includes global brands Abaque®, Almatec®, Blackmer®, Ebsray, Fluid Dynamics™, Finder, Griswold™, Maag®, Mouvex®, Neptune™, Quattroflow™, and Wilden®, all of which deliver value added pumps and systems that serve customers requiring safe and efficient transfer of critical and valuable materials. Additional information is available on the company’s website at www.psgdover.com.