USDA: Online tool for food safety complaints
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recently unveiled a new online Electronic Consumer Complaint Form where consumers can report problems with meat, poultry, and egg products.
Consumers can use the form to report illnesses, allergic reactions, injuries, improper labeling and issues with foreign objects to the Consumer Complaint Monitoring System (CCMS).
“Consumers are an important source of the information that FSIS needs to ensure that America’s supply of meat, poultry and egg products is safe,” Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Elisabeth Hagen said. “This new tool empowers consumers to report problems directly to FSIS, enhancing our current surveillance of the food supply and our ability to prevent foodborne illness.”
Once an incident is reported to CCMS, the agency can determine what public health implications are associated with the incident, if other people are reporting similar issues, and if FSIS inspectors have identified problems in an establishment that could have caused the issue. On a case-by-case basis, FSIS may conduct additional follow up with complainants, especially if the problem indicates a potentially widespread or severe public health hazard.
CCMS facilitates the detection of public health threats in the nation’s food supply and enables FSIS to respond rapidly to mitigate those threats.
The new online form, available at https://ccms.fsis.usda.gov, makes it possible for consumers to enter complaints after business hours and on weekends, and the predefined fields ensure that each incident report is thorough, accurate and in a format consistent with other entries.
For more information: USDA
