‘Assume food is not safe’ Lesson from Blue Bell Listeria recall

I always say, never assume food is safe.

dp-goalie.maskAnd that’s why other parents hate me.

Mansour Samadpour, president and CEO of IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group, said the same thing to The Guardian when talking about the Blue Bell Listeria outbreak.

“Many of these outbreaks are detected by chance events. … By the time people are sick, it’s too late.” Companies should be diligent in their sampling and testing. “If you are producing food, let’s not assume that the food is safe until proven otherwise. Let’s just assume that the food is not safe until proven otherwise.”

That is what Blue Bell said it will do going forward. Prior to the news of the outbreak, Blue Bell regularly tested its product. Now, it will test every single batch before it ships.

Go further: Make the results public and throw them on a website. And market food safety at retail.