[avatar user=”davidbryant” size=”160″ align=”left”]David Bryant
PIQCS Committee Chair of the International Packaged Ice Association[/avatar]
What a great honor it is for me to be elected to the IPIA Executive Board and to be Chair of the PIQCS Committee.
I first would like to thank my committee for working with me this next year, a year of much work to be accomplished. The PIQCS Committee consists of the following members:
| Bill Ellis | Cold Star Ice | Scott Sisler | Sisler’s Ice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jarrod Snyder | York Ice | Fred Lomangino | Ice King & Cold Storage |
| John Smibert | North Star Ice | Brett Fletcher | Spring Water, Inc. |
| Dave Jones | Reddy Ice | Chris Morse | Getchell Brothers |
We are coming off of the 99th International Packaged Ice Association Convention, and while we have worked very hard the last 16 years to get our industry up to safety and quality standards through PIQCS, there are changes coming.
The FDA’s final Food Safety Modernization act (FSMA) rule is published and the compliance schedule for Food Processors to meet the new law is:
September 19, 2016 – US large companies (500 or more employees)
September 18, 2017 – US small to Medium companies (under 500 employees)
September 17, 2018 – US very small companies (under 1 million in sales)
This program will be phased in by your PIQCS committee over the next 3 years, but keep in mind the FDA has a shorter timeline applicable to our members as outlined above. The IPIA has 2 PCQI (Preventive Controls Qualified Individual) Training workshops, January 17-19 in Dallas, TX & January 31-Feb 2, 2017 in Atlanta, GA to help find a suitable path for our members to become FSMA knowledgeable and qualified.
As much as I would like to say “this is no big deal” this is going to be a big deal. The IPIA along with Chris Dunn will be working hard to get updated templates and explanations to our members to assit in the transition from PIQCS to PIQCS/FSMA smoothly.
There are no major changes to PIQCS for the audit cycle of 2016-2017. If you have not notified NSF of any potential plant renovations or disruptions that could affect your audit date this spring, please do so. NSF has a short window to get everyone inspected by May 23rd, so please be as cooperative as possible.
Also, pay attention to upcoming emails from the IPIA as there will be new announcements coming out as we work towards updating PIQCS to meet the Food Safety Modernization Act.
As always I appreciate your time in reading these articles and I am committed to getting this done as smoothly as possible.
Have a nICE day!