The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a one-day virtual public meeting on data and technology research in a new era of smarter food safety on April 24,2024, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Et. This meeting aims to help the Agency better understand how we can use data and technology to exponentially advance food safety and achieve better health outcomes.

The New Era of Smart Food Safety Initiative was launched in 2019 to mark a new approach to food safety that leverages technology and other tools and methods to create a safer, more digital and traceable food system. We acknowledge that as technology and food systems evolve, our activities to advance a new era of smarter food safety will continue to evolve.

The morning session will consist of presentations from the Food and Drug Administration explaining our current thinking on the possibility of new, innovative, or different data and technology activities that both government and industry can use to exponentially promote food safety. Afternoon sessions will be reserved for public comment, giving stakeholders an opportunity to share feedback on how and where advances in data and technology can be leveraged to greatly enhance the ability of the Forestry Development Authority to improve public health outcomes. Starting from April 24, 2024, the Government will open a 60-day catalogue of cases to collect comments related to the subject matter of the event.

Topics to be considered during public meetings include:

Traceability of technical support

Predictive analytics

Data sharing

Whole genome sequencing;  

How technology is used to monitor and collect data.

Technological innovations in equipment design, digital tools and training methods

We also welcome new and emerging areas of innovation (e.g., the use of virtual reality in food safety training) that may not be addressed in the blueprint.  

The feedback we received from this public meeting, along with the comments submitted to the attached list for review, will help FDA identify activities that we should prioritize in this new era of a smarter food safety framework and form further stakeholder engagement opportunities.

Participants wishing to speak at the afternoon public consultation must register the External Link disclaimer as shown on the conference page. As previously mentioned, the Forestry Development Authority will open a public list of pending cases to receive additional comments on these topics. When the public proceedings begin on April 24, a link to the public proceedings will be posted on the conference page.