Media Release Repacking Guidance
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brooke Benschoter, APR, bbenschoter@afdo.org
AFDO Food Repacking Guide Now Available As a Resource for Charity Food Efforts
York, PA – As more volunteers hope to lend a hand in fighting food insecurity in the U.S., the need for a guide for food repacking events has been met through a collaboration of some of the organizations most impacted. Published by the Association of Food & Drug Officials (AFDO), the Bulk Repacking of Non-Ready-to-Eat Dry Product for Charitable Distribution guide is now available to provide a simplified set of standard operating practices designed to provide safe packing conditions. This will ensure that non-ready-to-eat dry products may continue to be packaged by volunteers and non-profit organizations for distribution within the U.S. This guide is available at www.afdo.org/publications and through the AFDO smartphone app, which is free through Apple and Google Play app stores.
The non-ready-to-eat dry products covered within this guidance document, include dried shelf stable ingredients such as: rice, soy, beans, noodles, dried vegetables, dried pasta, and vitamin
powder, with some variations. The products must have a kill-step and must be cooked by boiling in water prior to consumption. This effort addresses the confusion between packagers (non-profits organizations who organize volunteers to pack the meals), food banks, (non-profits who collect food to be redistributed to food pantries), and governmental regulatory agencies as to what guidance, rules or best practices should be followed for these unique volunteer food packaging events to operate.
General consensus is these type of products (dry good with a kill step) are extremely safe and desperately needed in domestic charitable food relief. This publication is not intended to replace any current government regulatory requirements that may exist, but can be applied to a relatively small segment of the charitable food supply program where operational standards do not exist.
Development of this guidance document was a collaborative effort
of:
- Association of Food & Drug Officials (AFDO)
- Feeding America
- Youthfront (Something to EatTM) in Kansas City
- Harvesters Food Bank in Kansas City
- Feeding Children Everywhere in Orlando
- Stop Hunger Now in Naples, FL
About the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO)
AFDO unites high-level regulatory officials, industry representatives, trade associations, academia and consumer organizations. AFDO members strive to foster uniformity in the adoption and enforcement of science-based food, drug, medical device and cosmetic products safety laws and regulation for improved public health.