February 11, 2013
UL Announces Food Safety Process Validation Service at MEATXPO 2013
New offering provides a simple and transparent way for manufactures to comply with USDA-FSIS requirements for HACCP validation
The North American Meat Association Annual MEATXPO Convention, February 11, 2013 – UL (Underwriters Laboratories Inc.), a world leader in advancing safety, today announced a new food safety process validation service, which provides a simple and transparent way for food manufacturers to comply with the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) requirements for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) validation.
Under the final rule, the USDA-FSIS requires that establishments validate their HACCP plan’s adequacy in controlling food safety hazards and verify that the plan is implemented correctly. The rule also requires that food manufacturers reassess the adequacy of their HACCP plan at least annually and whenever any changes occur that could affect the hazard analysis or alter the HACCP plan.
“With increased scrutiny from consumers, media and regulation, delivering safer food products has become a top of mind issue,” said Hank Lambert, General Manager of UL Global Food and Water Businesses. “By leveraging UL’s expertise, food manufacturers can ensure that USDA-FSIS requirements are being met and their HACCP plan is implemented, enforced, and used daily.”
UL’s process validation service helps meat and poultry manufacturers meet the government requirements and safeguard against hazards throughout the supply chain. Trained UL auditors validate each component of the HACCP plan’s adequacy for both scientific documentation and practical demonstration. UL provides a detailed written report of the validation to establish that the plan is in compliance or address any gaps that may result in a food safety hazard. UL will work with the organization to recommend improvement measures, if needed.
UL will provide these establishments with a UL Validated certificate, which can be displayed in their facility to show that they are in compliance with this USDA-FSIS rule and are being pro-active about their food safety plans.
For more information on UL’s food safety service offerings, visit www.ul.com/foodsafety.
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About UL
UL is a premier global independent safety science company with more than 118 years of history. Employing more than 10,000 professionals with customers in over 100 countries, UL has five distinct business units – Product Safety, Environment, Life & Health, Knowledge Services, and Verification Services – to meet the expanding needs of our customers and to deliver on our public safety mission. For more information on UL’s family of companies and network of 95 laboratory, testing, and certification facilities, go to UL.com.