Tag Archives: Outsource

Consumer groups, industry, lots of others, misuse food safety data for political gain

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Chapman already commented on some of the, uh, failings of the recent top 10 (PR stunt) allegedly most dangerous foods issued by the poorly named Center for Science in the Public Interest – there wasn’t much science or public interest in that last report.

The produce industry types responded with the blame-the-consumer routine, which is (incredibly dumb) unfortunate given that many outbreaks involving fresh fruits and vegetables clearly need to be prevented on the farm and have nothing to do with consumers.

“Consumers and other food handlers play a huge role in preventing illnesses, and they do need more information on safe handling.”

Neither approach is helpful. Casey Jacob and I tried to contribute to the public conversation about foodborne illness, where it happens and who’s to blame, with the appropriately titled paper, Where Does Foodborne Illness Happen—in the Home, at Foodservice, or Elsewhere—and Does It Matter? in the journal, Foodborne Pathogens and Disease.

The paper has been published online ahead of print. We conclude,

While some occurrences of foodborne illness result from unsafe practices during final preparation or serving at the site where food was consumed, others are consequences of receiving contaminated food from a supplier, or both. Data gathered on instances of contamination that lead to illness make greater contributions to the development of programs that reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses, than data or assumptions that describe locations where contaminated food is consumed.

The abstract is below.

Foodservice professionals, politicians, and the media are often cited making claims as to which locations most often expose consumers to foodborne pathogens. Many times, it is implied that most foodborne illnesses originate from food consumed where dishes are prepared to order, such as restaurants or in private homes. The manner in which the question is posed and answered frequently reveals a speculative bias that either favors homemade or foodservice meals as the most common source of foodborne pathogens. Many answers have little or no scientific grounding, while others use data compiled by passive surveillance systems. Current surveillance systems focus on the place where food is consumed rather than the point where food is contaminated. Rather than focusing on the location of consumption—and blaming consumers and others—analysis of the steps leading to foodborne illness should center on the causes of contamination in a complex farm-to-fork food safety system.
 

Where does foodborne illness happen–in the home, at foodservice, or elsewhere–and does it matter?

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Casey Jacob did a nice job on this brief paper, responding to the suggestions of reviewers and, dare I say, developing as a writer.

Foodborne Pathogens and Disease published the abstract this evening, but not the full paper, by Jacob and Powell.

So here’s the abstract as a teaser.

Foodservice professionals, politicians, and the media are often cited making claims as to which locations most often expose consumers to foodborne pathogens. Many times, it is implied that most foodborne illnesses originate from food consumed where dishes are prepared to order, such as restaurants or in private homes. The manner in which the question is posed and answered frequently reveals a speculative bias that either favors homemade or foodservice meals as the most common source of foodborne pathogens. Many answers have little or no scientific grounding, while others use data compiled by passive surveillance systems. Current surveillance systems focus on the place where food is consumed rather than the point where food is contaminated. Rather than focusing on the location of consumption—and blaming consumers and others—analysis of the steps leading to foodborne illness should center on the causes of contamination in a complex farm-to-fork food safety system.
 

Source food from safe sources – the missing component in food safety communications

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Tomorrow is Canada Day, the celebration of the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country of four provinces. Saturday is Independence Day in the U.S., commonly known as the Fourth of July, a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Both occasions have turned into annual orgies of bad food safety advice on both sides of the 49th parallel.

OK, bad is a strong word. But the advice is certainly incomplete; and puts the blame for any outbreaks of foodborne illness squarely on the shoulders of consumers.

For example, “The government of Canada reminds Canadians about the importance of food safety during the summer months.” Compelling reading. And then a $5.5 billion-a-year company, Maple Leaf, can do no better than parrot  government advice, which is convenient, since it says nothing about buying cold-cuts that won’t make people barf.

Maple Leaf’s so-called blog, which is updated about once-a-week, is entitled, Our Journey to Food Safety Leadership. What PR genius thought up this blog name? Shouldn’t they already be food safety leaders? I don’t want to be on a journey with them (and Journey is a terrible band) while Maple Leaf figures out food safety.

The U.S. is no better with its “Independence Day: Drills for the grill.” Seriously, who comes up with this stuf? Oh, and the U.S. Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education has a new leader, but the same incomplete messages (and same terrible title).

But change may yet happen. Given all the outbreaks – produce, pet food, peanut butter, that have nothing to do with consumers, it’s time any food safety messaging campaign included what the World Heath Organization has been advocating since 2002 – source food from safe sources (an evaluation of message effectiveness should also be a bare minimum and rarely happens).

The U.S. National Restaurant Association encourages restaurant and foodservice operators to begin planning for the 15th annual National Food Safety Education Month, held every September and focuses on the importance of food safety education for the restaurant and foodservice industry.

This year’s theme is "Food Safety Thrives When You Focus on Five."

Each week will focus on one of the five barriers:

Purchasing food from unsafe sources
Failing to cook food adequately
Holding food at incorrect temperatures
Using contaminated equipment
Practicing poor personal hygiene

Finally, a group starts to get it right. Now, about that evaluation …

FDA finds seed supplier of sprouts with Salmonella

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Cases of Salmonella Saintpaul linked to raw alfalfa sprouts are now up to 35 and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration thinks they can all be traced to one seed supplier.

That seed supplier, based in Kentucky, is voluntarily withdrawing from the market all of its 50-pound bags that have a lot code starting with “032.” All of these bags contain seeds from Italy and may be contaminated.

In addition to details about the withdrawn sprouts, the FDA alert states,

“FDA has no evidence that alfalfa seeds from other lots, or sprouts grown from them, are affected by this market withdrawal… Suppliers who can verify that their products were not sourced from the affected lots may wish to notify their customers; likewise, retailers, restaurateurs, and food-service facilities who have verified the sources of their alfalfa products may wish to notify their customers.”

Businesses that can prove they get food from safe sources on purpose—and didn’t just get lucky with this one—should brag about that, too.
 

Websites on stickers so consumers know where their food is from: still a cool idea 10 years later

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Eat Me Daily looks like a decent enough food blog that found a chicken producer doing what I told the Ontario greenhouse vegetable growers they should be doing 10 years ago: if not marketing food safety directly, at least provide information for those who care, in the form of a url that the inquisitive type could follow up on at home.

So we were at the grocery store this weekend, and came across a Murray’s Chicken with a sticker on it with a Farm Verification code, offering to let us "find out where this chicken came from and learn more about the family that raised it." … It even hooks into the Google Maps API to show you exactly where the farm is on a map. … Our code, 0289, revealed that our chicken was raised at 1020 Alvira Rd in Allenwood, PA 17810 by David Bowers. Hats off to you Mr. Bowers, that was one tasty chicken.

I agree with Eat Me Daily. Awesome. And one day, I will be cool.

Websites on stickers so consumers know where their food is from: a cool idea 10 years later

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About every 10 years I, briefly, become cool, at least in my own mind.

In high school in the late 1970s, I played air bass in an air band called Tone Deaf for one memorable performance. I should have stuck with it; 30 years later, kids are shelling out millions to play air whatever in Guitar Hero.

In 1991, Nirvana came out with grunge, Canadian Neil Young was the godfather and my closet of plaid shirts otherwise known as Kenora dinner jackets was all the rage.

Today, Canadian Press predicted that in 2009, products from apples to chicken will carry codes purchasers can enter into a website for sourcing details. When I started working on the on-farm food safety program with the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers back in 1998, I said, hey, you growers are doing this great food safety stuff, you should at least put a url on those stickers so those shoppers who want to know can find out all about your great food safety program.

Guess it wasn’t cool enough.

Food safety in pregnancy is not simple

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Yesterday I enjoyed an aperitif at Houlihan’s with my friend Angélique. Although the conversation was excellent, ordering was complicated for me. I wasn’t supposed to eat at least half of the items offered, and another third of them didn’t sound good to me.

Pregnancy food safety guidelines combined with changing tastes and sensitivity to smells make ordering very difficult. On our trip home from Australia on Sunday, for example, I wanted to grab a sandwich at LAX, and because we were at a deli, that left only one choice for me: a chicken Panini. Everything else had unheated deli meat – known to put me at risk for listeria.

At Houlihan’s, I used to enjoy the tuna wontons, but the tuna is only seared and I don’t trust raw fish right now. I couldn’t eat the very appetizing brie starter because the waitress didn’t think it was heated, and the bruschetta that we did share was a big question mark for me. It had goat’s cheese together with the tomato mix. We now know that tomatoes are all supposedly safe from Salmonella, but how safe was the cheese? I take at least a little comfort in knowing that I’ve been fully vaccinated against Hepatitis A thanks to my past wild travels. Angélique and I also shared a spinach and artichoke dip that came with fresh cilantro and scallions sprinkled all over the chips. I grow my own cilantro at home and know how hard it is to keep it clean and out of the snails’ reach …

Finally, very hungry, I just ate and tried to ignore the smaller risk factors. I did my best but I still didn’t feel confident that my food was safe. Who knows or can control what was happening in the kitchen?

For those who want to tell me, and every pregnant woman, how simple it is to eat safely during pregnancy, I beg to differ. See “Listeria warning for pregnant women” for example. Dr. Paul McKeown says, “Simple measures such as ensuring that the fridge is in good working order with the temperature between two and five degrees Celsius, eating food that is well within its use-by date so that harmful bugs will not have had time to grow and practising good general food hygiene will reduce the risk of listeriosis.”

We, as consumers, can reduce some of the risks but we cannot eliminate them. And I find that the more I know about food safety, the more complicated all of this becomes. When you’re hungry and the airline offers you a roll with cheddar and pastrami … and you ask your food safety expert partner, “if I pick off the pastrami, is the sandwich safe to eat and how much cross contamination might have taken place?” and he shrugs … sometimes you have to decide for yourself.

Know thy supplier

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Andrew Bridges of the Associated Press writes in a wire story today that companies increasingly are paying others to make the foods we eat — or the ingredients in them — and then selling it under multiple brand names, prompting a growing debate about food safety.

While it’s psychologically comforting to blame others, the bottom line is that any food producer, around the corner or around the globe, is responsible for producing safe food.

Dr. David Acheson, who leads the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety efforts, stated he knew of no evidence that outsourcing production is inherently less safe than traditional arrangements in which companies make what they sell.

Me, Dr. Douglas Powell, scientific director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University, was quoted as saying,

"The lesson for everyone is: Know your supplier."

And as Madeleine Ferrières, a professor of social history at the University of Avignon, wrote in the introduction to her 2002 book, Sacred Cow, Mad Cow: A History of Food Fears,

"All human beings before us questioned the contents of their plates. … And we are often too blinded by this amnesia to view our present food situation clearly. This amnesia is very convenient. It allows us to reinvent the past and construct a complaisant, retrospective mythology. Let us strive for lucidity, and let us look to the past for support."