UL launches food safety program

Northbrook, IL – UL (Underwriters Laboratories) has launched a new program called UL Food Safety that promotes standards-based safety solutions in industry.

The program will help mitigate risk by employing science-based processes to help address industry concerns, new government regulations and heightened consumer awareness of food safety issues. The organization says the program builds on its 117-year track record of advancing public safety through the creation of actionable solutions beginning with an innovative training curriculum through UL University. The training program is the foundation for a larger portfolio of services under development including traceability, validation and testing services.

“As safety evolves, so does UL,” said Hank Lambert, general manager of UL’s Global Food and Water Businesses. “UL Food Safety is a natural extension of our commitment to help protect people, products and places from new risks in new and important ways.”

UL Food Safety is launching its initial training platform with the first of three courses, “Food Safety Culture,” which is designed to guide food industry executives through the process of creating an organizational culture to ensure that food products are safe and meet consumer and regulatory requirements. It also establishes a framework for corporate management responsibility, communication of food safety objectives to all company employees, and continuous improvement in Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) and overall food safety systems.

Developed by UL and food industry experts, the curriculum integrates behavioural science with food science across organizations within the food supply chain to help assure that food professionals -from senior management to line workers- can work toward the production and supply of safe food products in a healthy and sanitary work environment.

The UL Food Safety training program will include succeeding courses on “Food Safety Awareness” which provides actionable information to empower and equip food industry workers to the “first line of defense” in food safety and “Evaluation of HACCP & Food Safety Preventative Control Programs” which provides mid-level management and auditors the practical knowledge to make effective decisions in critical situations. Both programs will be available this fall.

More information is available on UL’s website at www.ul.com/foodsafety.