CFA welcomes FSA’s recommendation, endorsed by ACMSF at its meeting on 11 March 20081, to change its advice to consumers regarding the rewashing of pre- washed ready to eat (RTE) leafy salads before consumption. CFA has long argued that advice to consumers to re-wash is unnecessary and introduces the possibility of cross-contamination in the kitchen. Research has also suggested that additional washing of fresh produce provides little additional benefit in reducing contamination2. Using published data and information provided by CFA, FSA and ACMSF have reviewed the evidence and decided that its advice to consumers may not be appropriate. In coming […]

CFA welcomes the call by the UK Government’s Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) for ‘universal adoption’ of hazard analysis and HACCP principles set out in CFA’s Best Practice Guidelines for the Production of Chilled Foods (4th ed), and urges their universal enforcement. ACMSF’s Ad Hoc Group on Vulnerable Groups reported today on evidence relating to the increased incidence of human Listeria monocytogenes infection in the elderly. ACMSF recognises the efficacy of the professional chilled prepared food manufacturing industry’s measures to minimise Listeria monocytogenes contamination of foods and their clear differentiation from the approaches of other sectors. […]

A new food industry Code of Practice on Fire Risk Minimisation has been published by the Insurers’ Fire Research Strategy Scheme (‘InFiReS’), in association with the Association of Insurers and Risk Managers in Commerce (‘AIRMIC’) and the Food Industry Panels Group (‘FIPG’). The Code has the support of the UK insurance industry. It updates the previous guidance published in 2003 by the FIPG – a broad consortium of trade associations in the food manufacturing, storage and distribution sectors led by the Chilled Food Association (CFA). Designed to provide advice across all the various sectors of the food industry, the new […]