New COVID-19 Checklist Aims to Keep Employees Safe in the Workplace

The Food and Drug Administration and Occupational Safety and Health Administration released a checklist for FDA-regulated human and animal food operations to use when assessing operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The checklist provides helpful suggestions, not requirements, and can be an excellent tool for facility management to ensure the appropriate policies are in place.

The checklist includes considerations on employee health, screening for symptoms of illness and social distancing configurations in different operational settings to prevent or minimize the spread of COVID-19. Also included are considerations for facilities when reviewing and reevaluating animal food safety plans in light of potential changes to personnel, ingredients and/or approved suppliers.

According to the FDA, this checklist is not exhaustive of all things that human and animal food operations may need to do to promote employee health and food safety during the COVID-19 pandemic and should be used in conjunction with additional information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, OSHA and other federal, state, local, tribal and territorial authorities. Not all items are relevant to all types of food operations.

The AFIA encourages facilities to utilize this checklist as a reference tool, particularly if the situation changes.

For questions or more information, contact Gary Huddleston, AFIA’s director of feed manufacturing and safety, or Leah Wilkinson, AFIA’s vice president of public policy and education.