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When a recall involves production without required inspection and the unauthorized use of another establishment’s inspection mark, the lessons reach beyond the company named in the announcement. For food businesses, it raises practical questions. Does our inspection status cover what we make? Can we explain how our process controls food safety hazards? Do our labels and supplier records accurately identify where the product was produced? These questions deserve attention when

Do you know everything that's in your seasoning blend? A seasoning blend, sauce, or marinade may appear as one ingredient in your recipe, but what's inside it can affect far more than flavor. Sub-ingredients can introduce allergens, change labeling requirements, and even influence the safety of your finished product. For food producers, understanding those ingredients isn't simply a labeling exercise. It's part of managing your formulation, suppliers, production process, and

A food can look dry, taste salty, or feel firm and still present a food safety risk. Think about a dry-cured salami hanging in an aging room, fruit slowly drying after harvest, or a traditional preserve made with sugar. Each relies, in part, on controlling the availability of water. Yet appearance, texture, and even the amount of salt or sugar added cannot tell us whether a food will support microbial growth. For generations, people have preserved foods through drying, saltin

Rows of healthy lettuce, carefully managed nutrients, and an indoor growing environment can make hydroponic production look like a safer way to grow food. Reducing exposure to soil, wildlife, weather, and certain environmental contaminants offers potential advantages. But traditional field agriculture should not be mistaken for a less sophisticated approach to food production. Generations of agricultural knowledge, soil management practices, and an understanding of growing en

Stillman Quality Meats set out to build a federally inspected operation capable of supporting both raw meat processing and ready-to-eat smokehouse production. Address: 3674 Greenwich Road, Hardwick, MA 01082 Phone: (413) 277-9600 Website: https://www.stillmanqualitymeats.com/ Instagram: @stillmanqualitymeats Facebook: StillmanQualityMeats From the beginning, the work required facility design, construction, food safety, regulatory planning, equipment, utilities, sanitation, an

A food safety program can look complete on paper. The handwashing signs are posted, temperatures are being logged, employee illness forms have been signed, and the three-compartment sink is set up correctly. There may be SOPs for cleaning, cooling, receiving, allergen control, and employee hygiene, all neatly organized and available for inspection. But the presence of those individual pieces does not necessarily tell us whether the operation is actually controlling food safet

Building stronger food systems from concept through operation. A food facility has to do more than look right on paper. Once production begins, the building, equipment, people, written food safety systems, utilities, sanitation practices, and regulatory requirements all have to function together. That is true for a new business planning its first facility and for an established producer expanding capacity, adding equipment, changing products, or moving into a different regula

For a small or midsize food producer, a Nutrition Facts label often becomes urgent when a retailer asks for one or packaging is ready to go to print. But nutrition labeling starts much earlier, with product formulation and how the product is actually made. An accurate Nutrition Facts panel depends on accurate product information: the complete formula by weight, ingredient specifications, batch yield, finished product weight, package size, and processing steps that change mois

On September 22, 2026, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall of approximately 167,639 pounds of raw pork, beef, and goat products that had been produced without the benefit of federal inspection. But there was another detail that made this recall particularly notable. According to FSIS, the products carried a false USDA mark of inspection bearing establishment number “EST. 1363.” FSIS stated that the number does not have a federal grant of inspection.

Food allergen control can feel like a large undertaking, especially for a micro producer working with limited space, shared equipment, a small team, and multiple products. But an effective allergen-control system does not have to be oversized or overly complicated. It does need to fit the operation. For a small producer, the goal is to understand where allergens enter the process, where they could unintentionally move into another product, and how the business makes sure the

When a Food Safety Assessment is scheduled, even an experienced USDA-inspected establishment can feel the pressure. The Enforcement, Investigations, and Analysis Officer (EIAO) may request extensive records, examine scientific support, observe production, speak with establishment personnel, and compare the written food safety system with what is actually happening on the floor. But an FSA is not simply a test of whether the establishment has all the right documents. It examin

Knockout Butchery is a family-owned slaughter and meat processing operation located on a working cattle ranch in Roebuck, South Carolina. Address: 2832 Walnut Grove Road, Roebuck, SC 29376 Phone: 864-410-7068 Website: knockoutbutchery.com Instagram: @knockoutbutchery Facebook: Knockout Butchery Knockout Butchery: From Federally Inspected Beef Slaughter to an Integrated Multi-Species Slaughter, Processing, and RTE Operation Located on an approximately 2,000-acre working cattle

For many food businesses, working with a co-packer is an efficient way to bring a product to market without building and operating a dedicated production facility. A co-packer may provide the equipment, personnel, licenses, purchasing power, technical expertise, and production capacity needed to manufacture at commercial scale. But a co-packing agreement is not simply a pricing and production contract. It is part of the food safety and regulatory system surrounding the produc

Fresh-cut produce is once again in the food safety spotlight. FDA and CDC are currently investigating a multistate outbreak of Cyclospora illnesses linked to iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico and recalled by Taylor Farms de Mexico. The investigation is an important reminder of one of the fundamental challenges with ready-to-eat fresh-cut produce: contamination may enter the supply chain before processing, spread during handling and processing, and reach consumers wi

Receiving a Noncompliance Record, or NR, can be stressful, especially for a small or very small establishment. Many processors are hesitant to appeal because they do not want to create tension with inspection personnel or worry that questioning a decision could make things more difficult. But appealing an inspection decision is an established part of the FSIS regulatory process. FSIS specifically states that establishments may appeal inspection decisions without fear of retal

Metal detectors are widely used in food processing facilities to help protect products from physical contamination. However, their prevalence has also created a common misconception: that every facility operating under a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, or HACCP, system must install one. HACCP does not automatically require every facility or production line to use a metal detector. The need for metal detection begins with the facility’s hazard analysis, not with a

What the Current Fresh Jalapeño Salmonella Outbreak Teaches Food Producers About Protecting Their Products A food producer can have a strong HACCP plan, a well-maintained facility, trained employees, established sanitation programs, and carefully controlled production processes and still find its products connected to a recall because of something that happened before an ingredient ever entered the facility. A current food safety event provides an important reminder of how qu

This article concludes our AskHACCP Environmental Monitoring & Listeria Series by exploring what happens after a positive environmental finding and how thoughtful investigations strengthen food safety systems. A laboratory report lands on your desk. One routine environmental sample has tested positive for Listeria species from a floor drain in the ready-to-eat area. If you have worked in food safety for any length of time, you can probably picture what happens next. Someone w

Fermentation is one of humanity's oldest food preservation methods, but successful fermentation doesn't happen by chance. It depends on creating and maintaining conditions that allow beneficial microorganisms to thrive while limiting undesirable ones. Successful fermentation relies on understanding how key process conditions work together, including: • Salt concentration • Temperature • Time • pH • Water activity, when applicable No single measurement defines a successful fer

Published in recognition of National Fermentation Day, a celebration of one of humanity's oldest and most enduring food preservation methods. Each year, National Fermentation Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate fermented foods and the extraordinary biological processes that create them. It also offers something more important. It gives us a reason to pause and consider how deeply food preservation has shaped human history, cultural identity, scientific understanding, and