AWMA Board Member and V.P. of Operations for Merchants Grocery Co., Inc., Chris Smythers, and AWMA V.P. of Government Relations, Anne Holloway, traveled to U.S. Food and Drug Administration headquarters to meet with top food safety regulators as part of a roundtable discussion on food safety.  The meeting, which included the Director of the Office of Food Safety for the FDA – Nega Beru, Ph.D. – was aimed promoting greater communication with industry on the agency’s Retail Food Safety Initiative.  AWMA was invited to join a few other industry representatives, including NACS, FMI and GMA, to offer insights into ways the agency and our industry might work together to improve food safety practices in retail food stores and throughout the industry.

Chris Smythers (Merchants Grocery Co., Inc.) speaks with Joe Reardon, Senior Advisor for Federal-State Relations for FDA, about the critical role distributors play in keeping our food supply chain safe.

The FDA is reaching out to the retail and foodservice industries to identify and discuss ideas for improving food safety at retail.  According to the FDA, the agency is seeking to partner with the distribution community in order to “focus on food safety issues relevant to your industry sector and foster dialogue on how we can work together to address the challenges we face together in preventing foodborne illness.”

Chris Smythers offered FDA regulators a better understanding of the distribution industry role in the food supply chain and provided regulators with some practical ways the agency could improve food safety in the convenience channels.  Smythers spoke of the critical nature of ensuring the integrity of the food supply saying, “the most important thing FDA is responsible for is to make sure the food that is being served to the public is safe for consumption.”  And, noting the industry role in this initiative he stated, “our retail customers need help to keep their staff trained and engaged in this effort” recognizing that such efforts “will help our retailers to operate their foodservice in a safe, effective, and compliant manner.”  Smythers concluded,“if a wholesaler is serious about distributing food service items to retail customers then we will need to play a role in making this happen!”

Timothy Weigner, Branch Director for FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs discusses food safety issues with Chris Smythers.

The FDA regulators and industry representatives participating in the roundtable discussion agreed that the meeting was both productive and helpful to the promotion of food safety efforts nationwide.  Smythers thanked the FDA regulators saying it was “refreshing to see such collaboration on this major topic.”  

AWMA wishes to thank Chris Smythers for taking the time to help in bringing the distributor message to those public officials responsible for making the regulations that impact our industry.