FoodSHIELD Announcements

Enhanced Document Manager capabilities

FoodSHIELD members now have access to an even more powerful way to share and collaborate on documents.  The secure Document Manager has just been upgraded with several new features:

• Action bar for quick access to file management tools
• Instant file preview - see the document as a PDF without having to download it
• Instant archiving of old versions with option to revert back to any version
• Assign or change file status using these options: Read only, In progress, Draft, Approved
• Mark a file as "Private" so only you the user can see it
• Get instant e-mail notifications when the document has been changed
• Send the file via e-mail directly from the Document Manager
• Document comments - creates a document forum to log discussion about the document

Here's a look at the new Documents Manager layout (click on image for larger version):

LabDIR Welcomes Alabama Laboratory

We'd like to welcome our latest member of LabDIR:

• Alabama Department of Agriculture Food and Drug Laboratory

Thank you for your valuable addition to FoodSHIELD!

To see a map of all LabDIR participants, click here or under Participation Maps in the left sidebar.

Contact us to find out more about joining FoodSHIELD and LabDIR.

Food&AgDIR New Members in VT and NC

We'd like to welcome two new participants to Food&AgDIR, our database tool for farm-to-table regulatory programs:

• Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets
• North Carolina Division of Environment and Natural Resources

Thank you for your valuable addition to FoodSHIELD!

To see a map of all Food&AgDIR participants, click here or under Participation Maps in the left sidebar.

Contact us to find out more about joining FoodSHIELD and Food&AgDIR.

LabDIR New Member in Indiana

We'd like to welcome a new participant to LabDIR, our database tool for laboratories:

• Indiana State Department of Health Laboratories

Thank you for your valuable addition to FoodSHIELD!

To see a map of all LabDIR participants, click here or under Participation Maps in the left sidebar.

Contact us to find out more about joining FoodSHIELD and LabDIR.

Video Tutorial: Create a Workgroup

Along with web meetings, workgroups are among our most popular member tools. Workgroups provide a way to collaborate with a group of people in a secure way.

Workgroups can have their own file folder for sharing documents, and their own calendar for creating tasks and events.  Workgroups can also create their own web meetings. And FoodSHIELD makes it easy to send an e-mail to the whole participant list right from within the site.

View this short tutorial to find out more:

Tutorial: Create a Workgroup (run time 02:40)

Video Tutorial: Create a Web Meeting

One of the popular tools FoodSHIELD provides to its members is the ability to create and conduct a web meeting. 

Web meetings offer a secure way to allow all participants see the same thing at the same time, such as presentations, documents, or web pages.

FoodSHIELD uses Adobe Connect, a powerful yet simple web conferencing system that makes quick work out of creating a meeting and inviting participants.

View this short tutorial to find out more:

Tutorial: Create a Web Meeting (run time 03:21)

Video Tutorial: Logging into FoodSHIELD

Logging into FoodSHIELD for the first time is easy. To understand more about the process, we've created a short video demonstration (run time: 01:16). Click the link below to launch the video.

Tutorial: FoodSHIELD Login

Find out more about FoodSHIELD membership in the About section of our home page.

New Security Enhancements

FoodSHIELD has just implemented a set of security enhancements to protect our registered members.  These features authenticate the site and its registered members, protecting against unauthorized access and helping to reduce the risk of phishing.

Effective: 11/27/2007

At FoodSHIELD, we continuously strive to deliver new security enhancements to protect members against known threats.

One such enhancement is Identity Confirmation, a set of features to authenticate the site and its registered members, helping reduce the risk of phishing.  These features assist FoodSHIELD in confirming the identity of our members.  They also provide our members with a method for confirming that they are interacting with the genuine FoodSHIELD site.

This security enhancement requires members to set their security questions and other confirmatory information.  This information used to confirm a member's identity when accessing FoodSHIELD from an unrecognized computer or unrecognized location. 

A new login procedure is now in place.  Please use the following instructions for your first login under new security system.

Lessons Learned

Read comments from Food&AgDIR's first user, Doug Saunders, from the Virginia Department of Agriculture.

Lessons Learned [PDF (14.5K)]