Getting it Right?

Food safety is a topic of wide interest, and not just to consumers and lawmakers. The largest part of the puzzle is industry: farmers, wholesalers, producers, retailers, and restaurants. Over the past several weeks I have highlighted some of the failures of the food safety program in our country. I was curious to see if there are companies that are getting it right. The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) states that is goal is “To provide food safety professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange information on protecting the food supply.” The IAFP consists of people and organizations involved in all parts of the food chain, from growing, storing and transporting to processing and preparing all types of food. One of the objectives of the IAFP is to highlight companies who “get it right” by recognizing corporate efforts towards advancing food safety and quality through consumer programs, employee relations, educational activities, and compliance with standards. The Black Pearl Award is awarded annually to a company that the IAFP believes has done everything it should and more to protect the food supply. Past award winners include Kraft Foods, Inc. (1998), Caravelle Foods (1999), and Jack in the Box, Inc. (2004).

The winner of the Black Pearl Award for 2010 was Fresh Express, a subsidiary of Chiquita Brands, LLC which sells pre-packaged ready-to-eat salads. The company established a Scientific Advisory Panel comprised of food safety experts in 2006. The purpose of the panel was to assist the company in learning about E. coli 0157:H7 and how to prevent outbreaks related to that pathogen. While Fresh Express created its Scientific Advisory Panel prior to the 2006 E. coli outbreak traced to spinach, and none of the tainted products were traced to the company, Fresh Express allocated $2 million in research funds to study the dangerous pathogen. But even a great track record is no guarantee that a company’s product is safe.

The winner of the IAFP Black Pearl Award for 2010, Fresh Express, has been associated with multiple outbreaks of food borne disease this year. In May numerous people were sickened by salmonella-tainted romaine lettuce reportedly linked to the company, but there was no recall. Later that same month, Fresh Express did issue a recall of romaine lettuce after samples of the product tested positive for salmonella. Fortunately, there were no illnesses reported with the second incidence of salmonella. But in July the company was again forced to recall pre-packaged romaine lettuce after samples of the product tested positive for E. coli 0157:H7. The company issued a voluntary recall of 2,825 cases of Veggie Lovers’ Salad in August due to a possible risk of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The company’s problems in 2010 did not end there. The FDA issued a warning letter to the company on October 6 of this year which included required corrective actions. While Fresh Express seems to take food safety very seriously, it has still produced a product that is dangerous! My intention is not to slam Fresh Express, but to point out how challenging it can be for a corporation to ensure the safety of every food item it grows or produces. It may be challenging, but I believe that the safety of our food supply deserves to be the number one priority of food producers. Maybe the Black Pearl Award was more like the Curse of the Black Pearl? Award winner or not, Fresh Express needs to get its food safety act together.