The Buck Stops...

About fifteen years ago, Food Product Design published a series of articles examining the state of food safety.

At the end of the series, one of the conclusions reached was that the great majority of foodborne illnesses were the result of mishandling of food products during retail storage and/or by consumers in their own homes. Examples cited included eggs being left on loading docks by distributors, and consumers not following cooking instructions for meat, or not properly cleaning their cutting boards. For the most part, food manufacturers got a pretty clean bill of health. Unfortunately, over the ensuing years, the food safety terrain has shifted, and is today focused at the other end of the food chain, which includes raw produce, ingredient sourcing and food manufacturing. What happens after a food product leaves the manufacturer’s control is no longer the major concern; rather, it’s what happens from the field to when the product is ready to leave the food manufacturer’s control that is paramount … and for good reason.

Recent events concerning E. coli outbreaks traced to lettuce fields in California, Salmonella in peanut butter and pistachios, and, most recently, E. coli contamination of Nestle’s Toll House Brand refrigerated cookie dough have rightfully raised serious questions as to our control over the entire “field to fork” system. Many reasons have been put forward for why this is happening, but the bottom line is that it is our responsibility to develop new, better-testing products, and institute tougher, more efficient good manufacturing practices, and enforce them. None of us can afford to look the other way or let a seemingly contradictory test result be swept under the rug.

The recently announced findings and recommendations of President Obama’s Food Safety Working Group may be a good first step in addressing these problems, but the food manufacturing industry should take as it’s own a quote from another U.S. President, Harry S. Truman: “The buck stops here.”