For the U.S. to continue having the world’s safest food supply, significant, ongoing innovation is required. That includes making dedicated and large investments in innovation to keep up with evolving consumer demand; enhancing existing or developing new technologies that update changes to ingredient lists; and providing information and action steps when alerting consumers to a product recall.

On World Food Safety Day — which is observed annually on June 7 — Consumer Brands is pleased this important topic gets its day of recognition, and we’ll be advocating for important and necessary changes at the federal level to ensure those responsible for ensuring the food supply’s safety can move at the speed of the consumer today and every day in between.

And this year’s World Food Safety Day focus on mitigating food safety incidents is especially timely.

Last week, the FDA announced the approval of its reorganization plan originally proposed last year which included the creation of a unified Human Foods Program, adoption of a new model for field operations, enforcement and other modernization efforts related to cosmetics. Unifying FDA’s Foods Program was a top priority in our FDA modernization campaign because it puts the onus on the agency to focus its efforts squarely on keeping food safe in a more seamless and coordinated manner. We are excited that this commitment to making much-needed reforms at the agency to ensure the makers of America’s trusted household brands’ ability to innovate and bring safe and accessible products to market is moving toward completion.

Ensuring food safety starts long before a product lands on the store shelves, or even gets packaged. Processing, from freezing to pasteurizing to fortification, allows companies to produce shelf-stable items that are safe, wholesome and accessible to all consumers. And once on the shelves, Consumer Brands’ SmartLabel, a digital disclosure tool, takes safety a step further by enabling brands using the platform to alert consumers to product recalls. In the event there are products consumers may need to avoid or discard, they can know quickly by scanning the QR code right on the package. We have also been encouraged by the FDA’s engagement with industry on recall modernization, as it will be crucial to leverage technologies to aid the agency’s efforts to protect Americans’ health.

As we noted last year, World Food Safety Day started in 2019 as a way to goal to draw global attention and inspire action to help prevent, detect and manage foodborne risks that contribute to food security, global public health, economic prosperity, agriculture, market access, tourism and sustainable development. It’s also an opportunity to commend the industry’s efforts to produce safe food for consumers every day — which remains the consumer packaged goods industry’s most important commitment, keeping its consumers safe and healthy.