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But a strong culture of food safety involves gov/smarterfoodsafety.
more than this. It’s also about keeping those Once you do that, click
food workers safe and about educating con- on the link for e-mail
sumers, who are cooking more at home these updates. This will en-
days, on safe food handling practices. sure that you don’t miss
We’re not just encouraging the food indust- any developments as
ry to make changes; we’re looking within our we move forward.
ranks to see how we can approach these issu-
es differently to better support and advance
each of these priority areas.
TAPESTRY OF WISDOM
When I asked Deputy Commissioner Yiannas
early on in my tenure about how this blueprint
first began to come together, I was impressed
to learn that literally hundreds of people were
directly involved in its creation.
Not only did the FDA’s leadership work clo-
sely on this; their staffs participated in a series
of brainstorming sessions on how to make the
New Era a reality.
They also held a public meeting in which
more than 1,500 stakeholders participated or
submitted comments via the Federal Register.
This broad input, representing the expertise
of food safety experts, the food industry, tech Even more important, I encourage you to
companies, and public health officials from go online and read the entire blueprint. And
all over the world, led to the development of please read it with the understanding that it
short- and long-term strategies that we will is a work in progress that requires your input.
continue to explore and seek to execute over As I mentioned at the outset, we know from
the next decade. our experience during the pandemic that the
As I hope you can grasp, I am very excited blueprint involves ideas whose time has come.
about the New Era of Smarter Food Safety, the Implementing them will strengthen our abili-
potential it offers, and I look forward to hel- ty to protect the food supply in good times
ping advance it to the next stages. and bad. And it will allow us to change as our
I know that my colleagues at the FDA will be world changes and the challenges and oppor-
working as quickly and efficiently as possible, tunities of food technology evolve.
and I call on the food industry to do the same. But with all this change, I want to assure you
As this work goes forward, we want to hear that there’s one thing that will remain consis-
from you, to ensure that this process remains tent and unchanged, and that’s our steadfast
transparent and collaborative. commitment to protect the American public.
That is why we plan to keep you posted on The new system should not be more compli-
our plans and progress. And, right now, I want cated, but it should be much safer and more
to give you two ways you can easily do this. reliable.
Please type in on your computer, phone, We look forward to working with all of you
or other device the following URL www.fda. to achieve that important goal. ƅ
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