The objective of consumer sensory tests or "affective tests" is to differentiate food products based on consumer preference levels. Assessors should be familiar with the food or beverage that they are assessing for taste and flavor so that they may express degrees of product acceptance, preference, or dislike. An adequate number of observations should be…
Initially published on May 27, 2016, US FDA’s Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration regulation (“the IA rule”) aims at preventing intentional adulteration from acts intended to cause wide-scale harm to public health, including acts of terrorism targeting the food supply. The rule applies to domestic and foreign companies that are required to…
Health Canada has recently released The Listeria Policy (2023), a regulatory document that supersedes the previous policy from 2011. Prepared by Health Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the policy focuses on the safety of Ready-To-Eat foods (RTE) offered for consumption in Canada…
Aegle Nutrition LLC is a U.S.-based manufacturer of nutritional supplements and nutraceuticals founded in 2013 with top industry professionals who recognized a need to provide a different standard of customer service and expertise. AEGLE Nutrition’s facility is based in Carrollton, Texas, and is a state-of-the-art certified GMP and FDA-registered facility built to exceed quality and…
First published in 1997, the US FDA just released the 2022 edition of the Food Code, thereby marking 30 years of the FDA Food Code in its current format. Written with the current understanding of food safety and science principles, the consumer health guideline (“the model code”) ensures that food products purchased at retail or…
In Canada, the CFIA handles, on average, 175 food recalls a year. In the United States, Time Magazine reports that the number of food recalls for 2018 was 703, a number decrease from previous years. A major food recall can cost easily over 10 million dollars. For any food business, experiencing one major recall is…
When conducting descriptive sensory assessments of food and beverages, the panel coordinator must monitor the performance of the panel to ensure the accuracy of the data and, in some cases, schedule retraining on specific sensory descriptors. To review the performance of the panel and panelists has three objectives: Assessment of the overall panel performance and…
If your food business or warehouse already follows good manufacturing and good distribution practices, now is the time to upgrade to an SQF certification which will enable you to export and to do business with large customers and retail chains. Safe Quality Food (SQF) is an accredited, internally-recognized food safety certification which is benchmarked to…
Like other fermented beverages, kombucha suits itself well for sensory evaluation. This trendy drink is a black tea-based, non-alcoholic beverage fermented by yeast and bacteria and known for its refreshing scent and taste. Sought after for its health benefits, kombucha is a low-calorie product, is rich in antioxidants, and offers antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. It…
The US FDA announced the New Era for Food Safety blueprint in July 2020 in an effort to “enhance traceability, improve predictive analytics, respond more rapidly to outbreaks, address new business models, reduce contamination of food, and foster the development of stronger food safety cultures.” One of the keystones of this food safety initiative is…