Buyers play top role in enforcing food safety as Congress and FDA watch
Buyers play top role in enforcing food safety as Congress and FDA watch
On the one-year anniversary of the spinach recall, Congress has turned its attention in recent weeks to front-page news about China imports and is likely to pass legislation that will place new requirements on food importers.
But the produce industry is aware that one more outbreak during the coming weeks could redirect the attention of lawmakers to legislate a fix.
This is exactly the turn of events that took place on Aug. 29 after news that King City, CA-based Metz Fresh LLC had launched a voluntary recall of bagged spinach. Both Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) fired off press releases announcing the need for produce safety legislation and criticizing the Food & Drug Administration for moving too slowly to regulate the industry.
"So far none of the bills are targeting produce, but if another outbreak comes, it could change just like that," said Robert Guenther of the United Fresh Produce Association.
Congress needs to understand the important strides the entire industry has taken as a result of outbreaks last year, and lawmakers should increase funding for research, which would serve as the basis for any new regulatory program, he said. Just instituting a new regulatory program or looking at the number of inspectors or inspections is not enough to solve the problem, said Mr. Guenther.
The industry has made strides in improving its Good Agricultural Practices, said Mike Doyle, director of the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety. "But it's still not a bullet-proof system."
The massive recall of bagged spinach showed the need for a food-safety intervention step at the end of the fresh-cut line that would resemble the success of pasteurizing milk, he said. There needs to be a critical step that can make a five log reduction in E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Listeria to build the greatest certainty in the safety of the product, he said.
Another intervention that should be adopted by processing firms is a commitment to test ingredients as they come from the field. California-based Earthbound Farm, the company linked to the spinach-related outbreak, has instituted a sweeping test-and-hold policy for suppliers of leafy greens. Incoming salad greens are tested and held until proven to be free of pathogens. Only cleared product is released into production, according to the company.
Dr. Doyle said that the company is rejecting lots that have been found to be contaminated. "You're not going to pick up everything," he said. But if the highly contaminated lots are caught before they are processed, it reduces the potential for contamination during processing. Buyers are beginning to require similar programs of their vendors.
Also, the FDA needs to regulate the industry to create a level playing field, he said.
Produce trade associations have called on the FDA to regulate the industry, an issue that was championed in part by buyers that began calling on their suppliers to follow more stringent requirements.
"I think we spurred industry action" after the spinach recall, said Tim York, president and chief executive officer of Markon Cooperative, and a key player in organizing a group of buyers last fall.
A group of nine large buyers, including Safeway Inc., Denny's Corp., Wegman's Food Markets and Kroger Co., gave produce suppliers a deadline to improve food-safety practices last year. Since then, Western Growers Association, working with other groups, created the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement and Florida has new tomato-safety standards, he said.
The industry is much better prepared to respond to another food-safety emergency and, more importantly, to prevent one since last fall's tainted spinach outbreak, said Mr. York. "We thought we had systems in place," he said. But now the industry has improving growing rules and has stepped up traceback and communication practices.
Consumer surveys show the damage that the series of large-scale recalls have caused the produce industry. In May, the Food Marketing Institute found the number of consumers confident in the safety of supermarket food declined from 82 percent in 2006 to 66 percent in 2007. Consumer confidence in restaurant food was even lower at 43 percent. Nearly 40 percent of consumers stopped buying products due to food-safety concerns, including spinach (71 percent), lettuce (16 percent) and beef (8 percent).
Research will play a key role in unlocking some of the mystery surrounding foodborne outbreaks. Mr. York is playing a key role in the newly formed Center for Produce Safety at the University of California-Davis, an initiative announced and financed in part by the Produce Marketing Association. The center is now recruiting an executive director to oversee the aggressive research, training and outreach agenda into how and where foodborne illnesses arise in produce and actions that can be taken to reduce these risks.
Two other organizations -- the Food Marketing Institute and the National Restaurant Association -- are looking into their own food-safety requirements for suppliers.
Starting in September, FMI has planned training courses for producers and processors in California and Arizona to become certified under new leafy greens guidelines and audit protocols prepared with the Safe Quality Foods program. Retailers are moving away from simple supplier audits in favor of food-safety and quality management certification, said FMI, and the trade association is looking for an HACCP-based program for managing the growing, harvesting and processing of leafy greens.
Foodservice companies that want to use SQF guidelines, which is similar to HACCP, to meet buyer needs should "have no problems meeting our expectations," said Donna Garren, vice president of Health & Safety Regulatory Affairs for the National Restaurant Association. The NRA has embraced the call for federal regulation of the produce industry and welcomed the leafy greens and Florida tomato marketing agreement changes. But in the long term, the problems are not just limited to leafy greens and tomatoes and not to just California and Florida, she said. "We need to evolve the metrics and raise the bar pretty high on food safety" to protect consumers, she said. NRA is trying to make sure specific elements are identified in vendor specifications, such as making sure water, soil amendments and worker hygiene issues are covered.
Dr. Garren said that the latest edition of the Food Code make changes to temperature-control and pH requirements for fresh-cut tomatoes, which have been added to the list of potentially hazardous foods. "We shouldn't assume they're contaminated coming in. To get to the origins, we need to encourage producers to evolve the program," she said.
With meat and seafood regulated, it's time fresh produce faces federal regulation by mandating GAPs, strengthening Good Manufacturing Practices to include raw agricultural commodities and enforcing HACCP in the processing phase, she said. Voluntary standards do not instill confidence in consumers, she said.
"Until we see regulation, it will be the buyers as the enforcement body," said Dr. Garren, who urged Congress to supply FDA with the staffing and resources that are needed to take on a new regulatory program.
(For more on food safety, see the Sept. 10 issue of The Produce News.)
But the produce industry is aware that one more outbreak during the coming weeks could redirect the attention of lawmakers to legislate a fix.
This is exactly the turn of events that took place on Aug. 29 after news that King City, CA-based Metz Fresh LLC had launched a voluntary recall of bagged spinach. Both Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) fired off press releases announcing the need for produce safety legislation and criticizing the Food & Drug Administration for moving too slowly to regulate the industry.
"So far none of the bills are targeting produce, but if another outbreak comes, it could change just like that," said Robert Guenther of the United Fresh Produce Association.
Congress needs to understand the important strides the entire industry has taken as a result of outbreaks last year, and lawmakers should increase funding for research, which would serve as the basis for any new regulatory program, he said. Just instituting a new regulatory program or looking at the number of inspectors or inspections is not enough to solve the problem, said Mr. Guenther.
The industry has made strides in improving its Good Agricultural Practices, said Mike Doyle, director of the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety. "But it's still not a bullet-proof system."
The massive recall of bagged spinach showed the need for a food-safety intervention step at the end of the fresh-cut line that would resemble the success of pasteurizing milk, he said. There needs to be a critical step that can make a five log reduction in E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Listeria to build the greatest certainty in the safety of the product, he said.
Another intervention that should be adopted by processing firms is a commitment to test ingredients as they come from the field. California-based Earthbound Farm, the company linked to the spinach-related outbreak, has instituted a sweeping test-and-hold policy for suppliers of leafy greens. Incoming salad greens are tested and held until proven to be free of pathogens. Only cleared product is released into production, according to the company.
Dr. Doyle said that the company is rejecting lots that have been found to be contaminated. "You're not going to pick up everything," he said. But if the highly contaminated lots are caught before they are processed, it reduces the potential for contamination during processing. Buyers are beginning to require similar programs of their vendors.
Also, the FDA needs to regulate the industry to create a level playing field, he said.
Produce trade associations have called on the FDA to regulate the industry, an issue that was championed in part by buyers that began calling on their suppliers to follow more stringent requirements.
"I think we spurred industry action" after the spinach recall, said Tim York, president and chief executive officer of Markon Cooperative, and a key player in organizing a group of buyers last fall.
A group of nine large buyers, including Safeway Inc., Denny's Corp., Wegman's Food Markets and Kroger Co., gave produce suppliers a deadline to improve food-safety practices last year. Since then, Western Growers Association, working with other groups, created the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement and Florida has new tomato-safety standards, he said.
The industry is much better prepared to respond to another food-safety emergency and, more importantly, to prevent one since last fall's tainted spinach outbreak, said Mr. York. "We thought we had systems in place," he said. But now the industry has improving growing rules and has stepped up traceback and communication practices.
Consumer surveys show the damage that the series of large-scale recalls have caused the produce industry. In May, the Food Marketing Institute found the number of consumers confident in the safety of supermarket food declined from 82 percent in 2006 to 66 percent in 2007. Consumer confidence in restaurant food was even lower at 43 percent. Nearly 40 percent of consumers stopped buying products due to food-safety concerns, including spinach (71 percent), lettuce (16 percent) and beef (8 percent).
Research will play a key role in unlocking some of the mystery surrounding foodborne outbreaks. Mr. York is playing a key role in the newly formed Center for Produce Safety at the University of California-Davis, an initiative announced and financed in part by the Produce Marketing Association. The center is now recruiting an executive director to oversee the aggressive research, training and outreach agenda into how and where foodborne illnesses arise in produce and actions that can be taken to reduce these risks.
Two other organizations -- the Food Marketing Institute and the National Restaurant Association -- are looking into their own food-safety requirements for suppliers.
Starting in September, FMI has planned training courses for producers and processors in California and Arizona to become certified under new leafy greens guidelines and audit protocols prepared with the Safe Quality Foods program. Retailers are moving away from simple supplier audits in favor of food-safety and quality management certification, said FMI, and the trade association is looking for an HACCP-based program for managing the growing, harvesting and processing of leafy greens.
Foodservice companies that want to use SQF guidelines, which is similar to HACCP, to meet buyer needs should "have no problems meeting our expectations," said Donna Garren, vice president of Health & Safety Regulatory Affairs for the National Restaurant Association. The NRA has embraced the call for federal regulation of the produce industry and welcomed the leafy greens and Florida tomato marketing agreement changes. But in the long term, the problems are not just limited to leafy greens and tomatoes and not to just California and Florida, she said. "We need to evolve the metrics and raise the bar pretty high on food safety" to protect consumers, she said. NRA is trying to make sure specific elements are identified in vendor specifications, such as making sure water, soil amendments and worker hygiene issues are covered.
Dr. Garren said that the latest edition of the Food Code make changes to temperature-control and pH requirements for fresh-cut tomatoes, which have been added to the list of potentially hazardous foods. "We shouldn't assume they're contaminated coming in. To get to the origins, we need to encourage producers to evolve the program," she said.
With meat and seafood regulated, it's time fresh produce faces federal regulation by mandating GAPs, strengthening Good Manufacturing Practices to include raw agricultural commodities and enforcing HACCP in the processing phase, she said. Voluntary standards do not instill confidence in consumers, she said.
"Until we see regulation, it will be the buyers as the enforcement body," said Dr. Garren, who urged Congress to supply FDA with the staffing and resources that are needed to take on a new regulatory program.
(For more on food safety, see the Sept. 10 issue of The Produce News.)
