SeafoodCertification.com-Newsletter
Urner Barry, Safe Quality Seafood Assoc. Partner to Update Compliance Guides, Revive Workshop Series
Urner Barry will update its line of seafood compliance guides and revive its imported seafood workshop series through a partnership with Safe Quality Seafood Associates (SQSA) the firms announced this week.
The guides were originally authored by the late Dick Gutting, Jr and published by Urner Barry. The list of titles includes: A Practical Guide to FDA Requirements: A Legal Guide to Successful Sales: FDA Inspection Manual – A Practical Guide: Model Seafood Import Compliance Manual; and the Recall Guide & Model Plan for Reportable Seafood.
SQSA’s Founder and CEO Scott E. Zimmerman will take the lead in revising the compliance series. Zimmerman has worked in the food safety, quality assurance, regulatory compliance, aquaculture, and fisheries management industries for over 15 years.
“These are obviously big shoes to fill; Dick Gutting made great efforts to inform the seafood community about the laws and practices central to importers and processors,” Zimmerman said. “It’s a great honor to pick up where Dick left off. The seafood industry requires a seasoned and updated perspective to address transforming compliance requirements.”
Zimmerman possesses professional training in Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), Pre-Requisite Programs (cGMP/SSOP), US import/export regulation, first, second and third party audits, traceability, withdrawal, recall, and product detention. Zimmerman’s primary focus is GFSI benchmarked certification standards and regulatory requirements for wild and farmed seafood.
SQSA, meanwhile, is a Miami-based consultancy focusing on seafood safety, sustainability, quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and third party certification standards. The company assists in the development and evaluation of management programs for hatcheries, farms, feed mills, and seafood processing facilities. SQSA works with its clients to earn compliance against certification standards such including ASC, BAP, GLOBALG.A.P., ISO, MSC, and SQF.
The first guide in the series of five to be updated will be the Practical Guide to FDA Requirements. Originally published in 2008, the second edition of this manual will include updates to importer/exporter requirements, Seafood HACCP, internal auditing practices, managing inspections, and responding to alerts and detentions. The revised edition is scheduled for release in time for purchase at Urner Barry’s Booth 364 during the upcoming Seafood Expo North America in Boston this March 6-8.
Urner Barry and SQSA will also collaborate on restarting the Seafood Import Workshop series, which will be renamed the Seafood Compliance Workshop. The two day event will take a broader focus on compliance issues for both importers and processors and include presentations on product evaluation, filing customer claims, and communicating with authorities to address product detention
“We want the workshops to help address a wide range of compliance issues that seafood businesses are dealing with on a daily basis,” said Zimmerman.
Further details about the workshop, including dates will be published in April.