Marking Pivotal Anniversaries in Food Safety

Promoting and Advancing Petroleum Marketing, Retail Grocery, and Convenience Stores in West Virginia

Driving Local Business and Community Growth Across West Virginia

Our Purpose and Commitment

OMEGA is a West Virginia-based organization dedicated to supporting and advancing the business interests of the state’s petroleum marketing, retail grocery, and convenience store industries.

As a network of over 225 locally owned businesses, OMEGA actively promotes cooperation, advocates for favorable legislation, and provides education and resources to its members. With over 50,000 employees, OMEGA members significantly contribute to the state’s economy, generating more than 10% of all state taxes and supporting local communities through scholarships, charitable donations, and civic involvement.

OMEGA is committed to fostering industry growth while serving West Virginians with essential services like fuel, food, and convenience.

who frontpage

member frontpage

Join a Community that Champions, Connects, and Elevates!

Your Essential Connection in West Virginia

OMEGA offers three types of membership: Convenience Store Members, Petroleum Marketer Members, and Grocer Members, all of which play a vital role in providing fuel, food, and essentials across West Virginia. As a liaison with state and national agencies, OMEGA works closely with organizations like NACS, PMAA, FMI, and the N.G.A. to advocate on behalf of its members.

We keep members informed through newsletters, legislative updates, an online resource hub, and educational seminars. Additional member benefits include access to the Encova Workers’ Compensation Discount Program and participation in our annual Trade Expo and fundraising efforts for children’s charities. OMEGA is here to support, advocate, and enhance the success of our industry members.

We’re celebrating a paper anniversary of the compliance date of two of seven major rules that significantly impact the way our supply chain does business: the FSMA Preventive Controls Rule for Human and Animal Foods rules bolster the long-term investment in FSMA among our companies.

By: Hilary Thesmar, PhD, RD, CFS, Chief Food and Product Safety Officer and Sr. Vice President, Food Safety Programs <img src="https://www.fmi.org/images/default-source/photos-for-staff-use/bakery/20151208-fmi-007-web.tmb-large-350-.jpg?sfvrsn=1ebe9a6f_1" data-displaymode="Thumbnail" alt="20151208-FMI-007-WEB" title="20151208-FMI-007-WEB" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px;" />A first anniversary is often referred to as the paper anniversary; the material symbolizes a newly cemented relationship or even the delicate nature of those first 365 days in a binding partnership. In the food safety community, this September marks the first anniversary of the first compliance date for several of the most visible regulations for the Food Safety Modernization Act, or FSMA. We’re celebrating a paper anniversary of the compliance date of two of seven major rules that significantly impact the way our supply chain does business: the FSMA Preventive Controls Rule for Human and Animal Foods rules bolster the long-term investment in FSMA among our companies. The rules cover those who manufacture, process, pack or hold food, and each covered facility is required to prepare and implement a written food safety plan and current good manufacturing practices. As with any good relationship, responsibilities and investments should be shared, which is why we have been encouraging our food retailers and wholesalers to ask the same questions they considered internally of their supplier partners. In all, we’re working to shift to a prevention-based model in order for the industry to effectively create future checks and balances. FMI continues to stress an enterprise-wide culture of food safety to not only comply with the FSMA rules, but also impart a greater sense of responsibility for food safety all along the supply chain. Indeed, smart partnerships help us better navigate the complexities of FSMA rules. Proper recordkeeping is a key component of all seven rules, and our relationship with <a href="https://www.fmi.org/get-involved/fmi-member-plus-program">ReposiTrak</a>® has helped FMI members monitor and follow-up on corrective actions. We’re approaching the four-year mark on our partnership with ReposiTrak®, which affords grocery warehouses, supermarkets, packaged goods manufacturers, food processing facilities, growers and logistics partners to manage compliance documents and to track and trace products throughout the global food chain. This demand for transparency is increasingly critical to FSMA compliance, and consumers want context beyond the package, per the FMI <a href="https://www.fmi.org/our-research/research-reports/u-s-grocery-shopper-trends">U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2017. </a> FMI has consistently maintained efforts to support greater clarity and communication in the supply chain. This commitment is most notable in our work to encourage the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to consider the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) as it prioritizes and implements FSMA programs. GFSI programs like ours, the<a href="https://www.sqfi.com/"> Safe Quality Food Institute</a> we acquired in 2003, reduce risk in the supply chain by receiving, storing, maintaining, sharing, and providing compliance reporting and proactive expiration alerting of audit, inspection and regulatory documentation required between supplier and food retailer. Nothing is more important to our food retailer members than protecting their shoppers, and while FSMA ensures we are responsible for the food while it’s in our control, we need to support consumers once they take the products home to enjoy. Thus, over the last 20 years, we’ve supported the Partnership for Food Safety Education in its mission to empower the shopper and prevent food poisoning. The biggest takeaway for all of us in the food safety community is that relationships are built on trust. Consumers want to experience a closer connection to their food, and we take pride in our Trends report that finds 95 percent of shoppers trust their grocery store to ensure that that food they purchase is safe. Still, like paper, trust is fallible.

Read full article on FMI

Menus

Some of the main menus of the template are now set via the template parameters saving you having to set up menu modules for each menu. From this section you can choose what menus you would like connected with these pre assigned menu areas of the template.

Copyright Information

Enter the copyright information that will appear in the footer area of your template.

Supporting West Virginia Communities

OMEGA members play a vital role in West Virginia, supporting communities through substantial tax contributions and a wide-reaching presence across the state. With over 55% of the population living in border counties, our members are dedicated to serving both local and regional needs. Beyond business, we’re proud to give back, having contributed over $3.1 million to children’s charities since 2003, reflecting our commitment to making a positive difference.