NSF Renames Retail Food Safety Program 'Shop Fresh'
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- NSF's FreshCheck program is changing its name to Shop Fresh. For participating retail food establishments, the new name is intended to strengthen the relationship between fresh, high quality food and their customers.
The organization's executives here said the new Shop Fresh name more effectively communicates the commitment of participating stores to sell consumers the freshest, highest quality food possible.
"Ultimately, the true beneficiaries of the Shop Fresh Program is the consuming public because we are strengthening the relationship between consumers and retailers by ensuring food freshness and quality," said Patrick Pimentel, g.m. of NSF's Retail Food Safety Programs.
Shop Fresh helps prevent, reduce and manage food-related risks, while improving the quality and shelf life of perishables, NSF said. The comprehensive program involves three interlocking services -- sanitation audits, microbial monitoring, and FastCheck.
The combination of these three services, pluses results monitored by a dedicated project manager, adds up to a powerful system that supports in-house quality assurance and loss prevention efforts, said NSF. The name change reflects the program's wide array of services, which brings the highest food safety standards to supermarkets and their customers, says Pimentel.
The range of solutions Shop Fresh offers includes microbial monitoring, sanitation audits, and "FastCheck," the lattermost of which provides an immediate response to customer returns and foodborne illness allegations, by offering each participating location a sampling kit and investigation form to quickly send samples in question to the NSF testing lab for forensic investigation and testing.
NSF Online -- a new online database, which creates, schedules, tracks, performs and reports audit and microbial data -- is another key feature of the Shop Fresh program. The new feature allows customers to access information through a customized, secure website to monitor their latest audit and microbial results. NSF Online's management reports also help customers identify trends and opportunities in their overall quality assurance process.
"Shop Fresh brings together auditing, microbial testing and laboratory support and puts them at the operator's fingertips," says NSF's retail food safety programs v.p. Nancy Culotta. "Our staff of experts will help our clients execute the results. This approach allows us to become the eyes and ears of a retail foodservice operation and ultimately become their safety experts."
For more information, visit http://www.nsf.org/business/shopfresh.
The organization's executives here said the new Shop Fresh name more effectively communicates the commitment of participating stores to sell consumers the freshest, highest quality food possible.
"Ultimately, the true beneficiaries of the Shop Fresh Program is the consuming public because we are strengthening the relationship between consumers and retailers by ensuring food freshness and quality," said Patrick Pimentel, g.m. of NSF's Retail Food Safety Programs.
Shop Fresh helps prevent, reduce and manage food-related risks, while improving the quality and shelf life of perishables, NSF said. The comprehensive program involves three interlocking services -- sanitation audits, microbial monitoring, and FastCheck.
The combination of these three services, pluses results monitored by a dedicated project manager, adds up to a powerful system that supports in-house quality assurance and loss prevention efforts, said NSF. The name change reflects the program's wide array of services, which brings the highest food safety standards to supermarkets and their customers, says Pimentel.
The range of solutions Shop Fresh offers includes microbial monitoring, sanitation audits, and "FastCheck," the lattermost of which provides an immediate response to customer returns and foodborne illness allegations, by offering each participating location a sampling kit and investigation form to quickly send samples in question to the NSF testing lab for forensic investigation and testing.
NSF Online -- a new online database, which creates, schedules, tracks, performs and reports audit and microbial data -- is another key feature of the Shop Fresh program. The new feature allows customers to access information through a customized, secure website to monitor their latest audit and microbial results. NSF Online's management reports also help customers identify trends and opportunities in their overall quality assurance process.
"Shop Fresh brings together auditing, microbial testing and laboratory support and puts them at the operator's fingertips," says NSF's retail food safety programs v.p. Nancy Culotta. "Our staff of experts will help our clients execute the results. This approach allows us to become the eyes and ears of a retail foodservice operation and ultimately become their safety experts."
For more information, visit http://www.nsf.org/business/shopfresh.