In public ways, Australia is 20 years in the food safety past, and so is my fashion.

One friend(?) says Amy or Sorenne need to dress me before I go out.

Looks aside, Amy says I give good talk, but we’re both American–something and not sure it goes over so well out in the colonies that are still British-esque.

FreshFruitPortal.com covered my chat with produce marketing folks in Sydney last week, where I stressed the importance of creating a food safety culture, rather than relying on regulation and government policies to provide businesses with secure and safe produce.

“Having lived here [Australia] for over (almost – dp) two years, I don’t see that public culture of food safety. There were 140 people sick in Canberra, because they were using raw eggs in mayo and yet there was no media coverage about it.

 “The thing I hear most in food safety, whether it’s produce or anything else is – ‘We’ve always done it this way and I’ve never made anyone sick’. What it probably means is that you don’t have the surveillance systems to pick it up.

“This is a reality – there will be outbreaks, like with rockmelon and peanuts in Australia and you as an industry have a chance to come together and get proactive, or wait until the next outbreak.”