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Friday, October 2, 2009
Food Safety Protects Business and Profits
Food safety is a process and produce companies need to change their cultures to rely less on audits and more on risk assessments, PMA's chief science officer Bob Whitaker said at the first food safety education session at Fresh Summit.
One of the key lessons learned in the spinach crisis - and regularly reaffirmed in other recalls - is that the industry has to work together, Whitaker said.
The environment is changing for the industry - bacteria is changing, as is our knowledge of them, FDA is stronger, USDA wants influence and consumer confidence has weakened. So how the industry adapts will rely not on audit testing but on a broader approach to food safety.
"Audits are a tool. That's it. They're an imperfect tool," Whitaker said.
He said companies should use them as learning tools and use them to improve practices, not hang them on a wall and point to them as evidence of a food safety plan.
Joining Whitaker in the session was Fred Pritzker, a consumer lawyer who has represented people sickened in every major food-related outbreak. If an product is contaminated, the company will lose every time, he said.
There are a five areas lawyers look at when representing clients sickened by contaminated food, and every business should know what guidances apply and should follow them. Spending the money on the front end is cheaper in the long run, and it's also the moral choice, Pritzker said.
The five areas are:
1. Good Agricultural Practices - is the company aware and following them?
2. Audits - are they complete and are the recommendations implemented, or are they filed away and never looked at again?
3. HACCP - is there a plan and is it actually followed?
4. Records - does the company have them and look at them? An expert witness will be able to spot trends that willake the company liable, Pritzker said.
5. Training - is it adequate? Has the company brought in safety consultants, conducted internal audits and focuses on employee education?
A few years ago, few in the produce industry would invite a lawyer into a plant - or to a show - but he environment has changed and processors can use every tool available to prevent a food crisis.
-Scott Christie
posted by Great American Publishing
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4:34 PM
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