Ethanol plants around the country are taking steps to stay compliant with federal food safety rules, especially when it comes to what is being fed to livestock.
Under the Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA, ethanol facilities that produce distiller’s grains must follow strict preventative controls. The Renewable Fuels Association says these co-products feed livestock worldwide, so it is crucial to document the chain of custody from the corn entering the plant to the feed that goes out the door.
“Most important aspect of this is that the FDA has implemented the Food Safety Modernization Act, and as part of that program, you know your distiller grains, your co-products, anything that you’re using that’s going out the door there, there’s kind of the chain of chain of custody, right? So if you’re producing, you know, a distiller grain that gets fed to a cow and then that cow gets fed to humans, you know, you want to be able to document kind of the whole chain from the part, which we take the corn into the facility, the part where we produce the grain and then and where it gets fed,” said Justin Schultz, RFA’s Director of Environment, Health & Safety.
Schultz will lead a two-and-a-half-day training course next month in South Dakota. He describes the hazard analysis, preventative controls and verification requirements are tailored to the ethanol industry.
“There are 20 hours of standard training. This training is developed by the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance, so that the FSPCA, curriculum, is recognized by the FDA, and it meets all those requirements for the preventive controls qualified individual.”
The course is open to both members and nonmembers of the Renewable Fuels Association. With demand for training growing and regulations evolving, Schultz says now is the time for producers to get ahead and stay compliant.
