Insights
Food safety, reported from inside the plant. By an operator running an SQF-certified facility and a food safety director with 7,500 audits behind him.
Issue 6 · Sep 4, 2026
SQF Edition 10: What Actually Changes and How to Get Ready
Edition 10 is a structural update, not a refresh. The five changes that take real work, in the order to start them, from a former SQF auditor.
Jeffrey Strout · Aug 9, 2026 · 2 min read
The Brief · Weekly
Sep 4
A ready-to-eat Listeria recall expands, FDA warning letters focus on sanitation verification, and SQFI holds the line on the Edition 10 audit start.
Recalls and alerts
FDA and USDA
Standards and schemes
The Brief: Week of August 31, 2026
A ready-to-eat Listeria recall expands, FDA warning letters focus on sanitation verification, and SQFI holds the line on...
Jeffrey Strout · Sep 04, 2026 · 2 min read
Third Shift Is Where Monitoring Programs Go to Die
Day shift has the QA manager, the supervisors, and the visitors. Third shift has the same CCPs and none of the audience....
Steven Moussawer · Aug 31, 2026 · 2 min read
The Brief: Week of August 24, 2026
An undeclared milk recall in chocolate, the FSMA 204 records clock, and a BRCGS clarification on trend review.
Jeffrey Strout · Aug 28, 2026 · 1 min read
The Brief: Week of August 17, 2026
Metal in snack products, the FSIS Salmonella framework moves, and GFSI puts culture in the benchmark.
Jeffrey Strout · Aug 21, 2026 · 1 min read
Can an LLM Draft a Usable CAPA? We Measured It
We scored 240 AI-drafted corrective actions against what our QA team actually shipped. Where the drafts held up, where t...
Steven Moussawer · Aug 19, 2026 · 2 min read
The Brief: Week of August 10, 2026
A leafy greens traceback, FDA reorganization lands on inspections, and Edition 10 scoring math worth memorizing.
Jeffrey Strout · Aug 14, 2026 · 1 min read
The working documents.
Guide · 2 min
Building a HACCP Plan That Survives an Audit
The difference between a HACCP plan that passes review and one that runs the floor: hazard analysis you can defend, CCPs you can justify, and records that match reality.
Updated Sep 2026
Guide · 2 min
FSMA 204 Traceability: The Records You Need Before July 2028
Enforcement is set for July 20, 2028. The Critical Tracking Events, the Key Data Elements, and why the records you capture from the first lot forward are the ones that count.
Updated Sep 2026
Guide · 2 min
Environmental Monitoring: Zones, Sampling, and the Trend Review That Counts
An EMP that finds nothing is not a clean facility, it is a program that is not looking. Zoning, site selection, and the review cycle that turns results into a defense.
Updated Sep 2026
Original research on AI in food safety.
Run inside a working SQF plant and published with the numbers: what AI can carry in a food safety program, where it fails, and what the evidence trail has to look like when an auditor asks.
Steven Moussawer · Founder, SystemPath
Aug 2026
Can an LLM Draft a Usable CAPA? We Measured It
We scored 240 AI-drafted corrective actions against what our QA team actually shipped. Where the drafts held up, where they failed, and why the failures cluster.
Jul 2026
What an AI Evidence Trail Has to Look Like Before an Auditor Sees It
If AI touches a food safety record, the first question on audit day is "who approved this and what did they see?" The evidence structure that answers it, from a facility that runs one.
Jun 2026
Where AI Fails at Document Review: Failure Modes From a Year of SOP Conflict Checks
We let AI cross-check SOPs against each other and against the standard for a year. It catches conflicts humans miss, and it misses conflicts in ways worth knowing before you rely on it.
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The Brief: Week of August 3, 2026
Listeria sampling in frozen vegetables, sesame enforcement matures, and the culture clause needs the longest runway.
Jeffrey Strout · Aug 07, 2026 · 2 min read
What 7,500 Audits Taught Me About the First Ten Minutes
By the time the opening meeting ends, an experienced auditor has usually formed the hypothesis the rest of the audit wil...
Jeffrey Strout · Aug 04, 2026 · 2 min read
The Brief: Week of July 27, 2026
Ethylene oxide in imported spice, remote regulatory assessments continue, and change management gets a clause of its own...
Jeffrey Strout · Jul 31, 2026 · 1 min read
Building a HACCP Plan That Survives an Audit
The difference between a HACCP plan that passes review and one that runs the floor: hazard analysis you can defend, CCPs...
Steven Moussawer · Jul 25, 2026 · 2 min read
What an AI Evidence Trail Has to Look Like Before an Auditor Sees It
If AI touches a food safety record, the first question on audit day is "who approved this and what did they see?" The ev...
Steven Moussawer · Jul 20, 2026 · 2 min read
FSMA 204 Traceability: The Records You Need Before July 2028
Enforcement is set for July 20, 2028. The Critical Tracking Events, the Key Data Elements, and why the records you captu...
Jeffrey Strout · Jul 10, 2026 · 2 min read
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