As pest problems have been traced to some recent food contamination cases and with the implementation of the Food Safety and Modernization Act, it is more important than ever that facilities pay increased attention to the role of pest management in their overall operations programs.

The nation's food safety grades are out and the results are mixed. In fact, foodborne infections continue to be an important public health problem in the United States, according to annual report card produced by The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Atlanta.

Most recently, there has been a push by CPG companies toward certification of packaging suppliers. This promises to be a major theme at Pack Expo Las Vegas 2013, Sept. 23-25 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas.

The database provides a roadmap for development of tests to identify pathogens and provide information about the origin of each pathogen, significantly reducing the typical public health response time in outbreaks of foodborne illness from weeks to days.