[Best Practices] Integrating Approaches to Supplier Assessment

The recall list was more than 3,200 items long and peanut products were still being added months after the initial Salmonella outbreak; costs for rural American peanut producers alone were being projected to top $1 billion. Maple Leaf Foods estimates that its 2008 product recall from E. coli contamination cost the company $40 to $50 million. American tomato growers are said to have lost more than $100 million — with some estimates hovering closer to $300 milion — in the Salmonella outbreak eventually linked instead to peppers.

Major product recalls impact more than the producer to which the contamination is traced back; they impact every facet of the food industry, directly through ingredient-derived product recalls, consumer wariness of food safety in general and/or resulting regulation, such as that currently being proposed in federal and state governments.

For these reasons, as well as the protection of the consumer and one’s brand, it is incumbent upon food companies to assess their internal practices and seek out best practices for assessing the safety of the supply chain.

An integrated approach. From details evidenced in the peanut Salmonella outbreak, consensus is growing that no single method of food safety assessment is enough. Rather such evaluation should include an integrated approach of audits, inspections and testing, with the best practices includ-ing integration of all data and results into a single tracking system — from farm to fork.

Two documents put out by FDA in March provided rec-ommendations for manufacturers and retailers, focused specifically on safe sourcing of peanut-derived products and ingredients. However, the recommendations are applicable to all ingredient sourcing:

In its guidance document, FDA recommends that manu-facturers obtain peanut-derived ingredients only from suppliers who use production processes that have been demonstrated to adequately reduce the presence of Salmonella, or that they ensure that their own manufacturing process would do so. (The full document is at www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/pnutguid.html).

FDA also distributed a bulletin for retail and food service operations, recommending that they work with suppliers to ensure products are manufactured and packed in accordance with current GMPs; production processes are used that have been demonstrated to adequately reduce the presence of Salmonella; and none of the supplied products are subject to an ongoing recall. (The full bulletin is available at www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/pnutbull.html)

As numerous recalls have demonstrated, the issue of food safety is not exclusive to the U.S. supply chain, but is just as critical when working with global suppliers. As described in a release from TUV SUD, headquartered in Germany, "The food industry faces several challenges with the globalization of the food supply chain and growing number of food production and processing companies in Asian countries. Lack of adequate attention to food safety by stakeholders in the food supply chain, such as farmers, manufacturers, suppliers, transporters and the government has led to food scares and consumer distrust."

Although awareness about food safety is fairly widespread in the Asian economies, said Kok Yoong Chong, vice president of Food and Related, TUV SUD, "the problem lies in the execution of food safety norms."

To increase the transparency of their supply chains and reduce risks and recalls, the company recommends that man-ufacturers integrate their quality and safety management services — such as traceability, testing and hygiene monitoring — across their supply chain.

Tracking and Traceability. Kerry Farrell, vice president of sales and marketing for FoodLogiQ, agrees with the integrated approach. "It is so important to take a holistic view of food safety," Farrell said, detailing this as the need to integrate lab testing, audits and traceability systems along the entire supply chain to proactively look for issues, detect problems and prevent contamination rather than reacting to recalls after the fact.

Some industries and countries already implement tracking or coding by which foods are tracked to the source. With its stringent tracking requirements, the organic industry provides a prime example of such traceability, as do QR codes, which are well-known in Japan where they are commonly used for commercial tracking, logistics, inventory control and advertising. Readable by enabled cell phone cameras, a code on a piece of fruit, for example, provides the consumer with complete source information.

Increasing U.S. tracking to a similar labeling of individual items will help increase food traceability and safety, Farrell said. "We need to think from the consumer backward," she said, explaining that consumers expect their food to be safe, but they are also now basing purchasing decisions on a food’s source and ingredients; product practices of the food company; and claims of organic, natural and pesticide, hormone and additive free. "Being able to demonstrate these claims by implementing testing, auditing and traceability for ingredients and finished products through each step of the supply chain is what is now required," she said. "The key is being rigorous about collecting and verifying information from suppliers."

While Farrell believes that standards are critical, she does not see it as solely a regulatory issue but also an area that the industry will always need to self-police, in large part because of the vested interest companies have in keeping food safe — and maintaining consumers’ trust in their brand. While the FDA, USDA and CDC all have important roles in keeping food safe, "the industry plays a critical role in prevention and monitoring," she said, adding that what is really needed is a cost-effective technology by which to interconnect the various traceability systems.

"The challenge is that it is never going to be easy," Farrell said. "We will continue to see outbreaks, but the industry will have a much better chance of prevention and detection if good systems and tools are put in place so that information can be easily shared between growers, suppliers, manufacturers and retailers to increase visibility and speed access to data from every link in the chain."

The author is managing editor of QA magazine. She can be reached at llupo@giemedia.com.