An editorial in Tuesday’s L.A. Times stated that,
“Retailers have both the clout to compel high standards and better tracking in agriculture and a direct reason to worry about consumers’ concerns.”
In response, the Times published this letter from me:
“The Wal-Marts and McDonald’s of the world have been requiring enhanced food safety from their suppliers for more than a decade, and, as your editorial notes, they may be the best advocates for consumers. Making customers sick is bad business.
But many of the checks and balances on supplying fresh produce, like the kind involved in this year’s salmonella outbreak, are hidden and poorly validated. Any commodity is only as good as its worst grower.
There are too many outbreaks and too many sick people. It’s time for retailers and restaurants to market microbial food safety and compete using safety as a selling point. This would introduce a heightened level of accountability throughout the farm-to-fork food safety system and capture the imagination of a public weary of food scares.
The first company that can reliably assure consumers they aren’t eating poop on spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and any other fresh produce will make millions and capture markets. May the best food safety system win.
Douglas Powell
Manhattan, Kan.
The writer is an associate professor in food safety at Kansas State University.”