FSMA and Food Safety Systems: Understanding and Implementing the Rules

This book is well written and an easy read. It has a wealth of information and chapter 9 is a treasure trove of reference material

This text is the most comprehensive, well organized, straight forward book on FSMA 2011, that I have read. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning about this topic. It is a great reference book as well.

Explanations are straight to the point. Many examples, explanations of the act. Easy to read. Nice reference book to have!

Technically and legally entirely orientated to the US there are nonetheless broad pointers and explanation of areas of US practice worth understanding if you are say reading this book as an interested professional in the UK. So it has limited and a rather specific use outside the UK but apart from that, you have here a very well put together, detailed guide to the FSMA.

As I write, I read this morning in the UK's Guardian newspaper that 'runny eggs are safe to eat again'. Years after the Edwina Curry saga when her comments decimated the UK egg industry. The point is, we rely on government agencies to monitor food safety and make sure we are not consuming foodstuffs which will adversly affect our health.However, in Jeffrey T Barach's 'FSMA and Food Safety Systems...etc', the content is essentially drawn from a US perspective which differs from EU and UK legislation which is applied here.Much of the information will be of value to those engaged in the profession in the UK however, and as such I'm sure there will be areas where standards and legislation overlap.

The first thing to note is that this book is about American law and American systems. However, saying that, it has a lot of very useful background information about the rationale for both the rules and the health and safety practices. This kind of information is very transferable, as are the thought processes behind each of the rules and expectations. While this book is not fully applicable to the British situation, it would make a very good support text to any student in the field of food safety - to look at another system and an alternative rationale for good practices.

So the story goes, Under Obama the 2011 Food Safety Modernation Act became law in the US. This covers food safety in both US and imported food and aims to prevent nasties such as Salmonella or E. coli strains getting into consumer food products. The style is a bit choppy and cluttered, hence the rating. However, there are some really fascinating process charts for instance on the manufacture of walnut cookies and potato salad, ensuring food safety is maintained along the way.Essential for would be exporters to the US to refine current procedures.

Definitely useful for an American reader, or for those of us who deal with providing food services to the American market. It is a useful read for anyone involved in food, but there are a lot of things which differ between the US and UK food industries, so it can't be relied on verbatim by the British reader.