Resources

Food Industry Virtual Office Hours

The IFS@CU and collaborating programs offer monthly sessions of Food Industry Virtual Office Hours. Speak directly to Cornell University food safety experts in dairy, fresh fruits and vegetables, and processed foods and beverages. Each session will offer a presentation focused on current food safety topics followed by a Q&A and facilitated discussion with our panel of experts.

• Click here for information on how to join an upcoming session.
• Visit our YouTube channel to view previously recorded sessions.

Helping Specialty Crop Growers Develop Effective Sanitization Programs

The IFS@CU and UVM Extension Ag Engineering are collaborating with Cornell Cooperative Extension teams across New York State to host a series of remote workshops on Cleaning and Sanitizing on Produce Farms and in Packing Facilities in 2022.

For more information as well as a list of resources visit this page.

COVID-19 Resources

The IFS@CU has answers to your COVID-19-related questions as well as resources for the food industry and consumers.

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Food Industry Resources
• Consumer Resources
• Practical Resources
• COVID-19 Modeling

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI)

The IFS@CU has created a webpage gathering HPAI information for the dairy industry and consumers.

Take-Home Messages

• This is the first reported spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in cows, we are still learning how the virus is transmitted and how this impacts the animal and public health.
• Dairy farms are segregating cows showing signs of illness, limiting potential viral loads in raw milk.
• If HPAI virus is present in raw milk it is expected to be inactivated by milk pasteurization as less heat intensive pasteurization practices used in other foods have been shown to effectively reduce HPAI viral loads.
• Viral remnants (e.g., genetic material) from inactivated HPAI virus can still be detected using PCR in pasteurized milk; however, this presence does not represent a public health risk because only live, infectious virus can cause an illness.

Fact Sheet

IFS@CU has developed a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Factsheet for the dairy industry and dairy consumers.

Webinar Discussion

View a Special Session of Dairy Foods Virtual Office Hours discussing HPAI and recent incidences of dairy cows and milk testing positive for this virus, including a moderated Q&A session with a panel of experts in the field.

Monkeypox Information for the Food Industry

The IFS@CU has created a webpage gathering monkeypox information for the food industry.

Take-Home Messages

• The monkeypox strain causing the current outbreak is much less deadly than COVID-19 (the US had > 25,000 monkeypox cases as of September 20, 2022 with 1 death reported) and is much less transmissible than COVID-19.
• While there is a theoretical possibility of transmission through foods and food packaging, basic practices mandatory for all food processing facilities (known as "Good Manufacturing Practices" or GMPs) will effectively control the small risk of food-associated transmission.
• Food companies should provide basic training on monkeypox (for example, how to identify an infection) and reinforce GMPs.

Monkeypox Factsheet (PDF)

Download a PDF version of this webpage: Monkeypox Factsheet for the Food Industry.

Spanish Version

Download a Spanish version of the Monkeypox Factsheet.

Meeting Regulatory Requirements

Do you manufacture, process, pack or hold food products and have questions about what you need to do to be in compliance with New York State and federal regulations?

If your answer is yes, then you may find the IFS@CU's Guide to Meeting Food Manufacturing Regulatory Requirements in NYS useful. It contains several resources that may help you better understand what you need to do to meet regulatory requirements as a food facility operating in New York State. This is by no means a comprehensive list of all resources available, but should point you in the right direction.

Food Safety Modernization Act

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the most sweeping reform of our food safety laws in more than 70 years, was signed into law by President Obama on January 4, 2011. It aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it.

Learn more about the seven foundational FSMA rules.