Emergency Guidelines

Emergencies relating to food safety bring new challenges to the food systems of today.  The food industry, scientists, and regulatory agencies have developed expertise in protecting the food supply from unintentional contamination.

The challenge faced is to build upon the food safety systems already in place by ensuring timely implementation of risk reduction practices.  It is the intent of these guidelines to provide direction and preparedness to respond to an event, and by having plans in place to quickly recover after an incident.

Food industry employees along with regulators must be able to ensure a rapid response to food safety emergencies to protect food safety and public safety.  Often these events involve close coordination with the Health Department.

This guideline is for food industry employees to be used as a reference in dealing with some of the common emergencies that can affect food safety.