The recent launch of the American Institute of Baking International’s (AIB) newest environmental monitoring service meets an industry need for food manufacturing companies across the globe.

AIB’s new Environmental Monitoring Consulting Service can help clients comply with the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) as a consulting service that can advise food facilities on how to develop and improve their microbial environmental monitoring programs to reduce the risk of food-safety events such as outbreaks and recalls.

“Over the last decade, environmental monitoring has changed from a random sampling activity to an essential component of a food-safety program,” states Lakshmikantha Channaiah, Ph.D., AIB’s director of microbiology. “Now it is a requirement of FSMA. Companies are turning to AIB because we are recognized by industry as technical and production experts. We offer a holistic, all-inclusive view of the food production process, emphasizing the upstream and downstream production impacts.

“Our unique program will eventually grow to include a full line of microbiology support services such as kill-step validation and shelf-life studies.”

Also, AIB’s FSMA Awareness Webinar series launched this week on Sept. 30. This series of recorded webinars will provide viewers from the global food, beverage and distribution industry with insight into the key elements of FSMA.

“AIB has been flooded with FSMA-related questions in recent months, and the industry is scrambling to understand how the new regulations apply to them in expectation of the final rules that are set to release in 2015,” says Lance Reeve, interim director of food safety services innovation. “Our experts have read and interpreted the rules and grouped all of the relevant information into eight easy-to-understand webinars that give viewers a concise interpretation of how the changes apply to them.”

For more information, visit www.aibonline.org or call the AIB at 800-633-5137.