[Viewpoint] Strengthening the Weak Links

The tomato industry is reeling and fingers are pointing in all directions after the recent Salmonella saintpaul outbreak, which remained unresolved more than three months after the first case was identified in April. After months of focus on tomatoes, the investigation turned in July, to jalapeno and serrano peppers.

FDA Associate Commissioner for Food David Acheson described the investigation as “one of the most complex outbreaks that I personally have been ever involved with, and I think that speaks to many of my colleagues who’ve been at FDA for many years.”

As of press time, CDC reported nearly 1,300 people had been infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella saintpaul, and FDA trace-back had shifted its investigation to peppers from Mexico, distributed by a McAllen, Tex., plant. While FDA officials have noted cooperation from Mexico on the investigation, other reports are indicating that Mexican officials are calling the FDA findings premature with no scientific basis.

Contention on the investigation doesn’t stop there. While neither FDA nor CDC was yet exonerating tomatoes in the outbreak, warnings against tomato consumption were lifted and the tomato industry is seeking $100 million in compensation for its estimated losses due to consumption warnings and resulting consumer avoidance.

But before we point too many fingers at the investigators, we should take an objective look at our own industry processes and ask if we are indeed providing these investigators with the information needed for quick trace-back and recall of contaminated foods.

The Associated Press reported that the food industry’s opposition to — and lobbying against — electronic record-keeping for trace-back is a significant cause of the slowness and complexity of contamination investigations. In “Global Traceability,” Gary Fleming, vice president of industry technology and standards for the Produce Marketing Association puts it more bluntly: “It drives me crazy to hear people say, ‘We need to find a way to do this.’ We’ve already found a way, we just need to educate everybody and get it done.”

What system does your plant implement to ensure quick and accurate trace-back? Is it electronic? Does it have one forward/one back integration? If any ingredient of your product were implicated in a recall, would the trace-back flow swiftly through your point in the chain, or would you be a weak link?

It is, in fact, a topic that is gaining increased focus on an almost daily basis across the industry. And while FDA is first to admit it needs increased resources, Acheson also said, “A key point from any outbreak, and this is no exception, is to look at what lessons can we learn. What improvements can we make to the future? … You can always say could we have done it better with different systems. The commitment is that we will look at lessons learned from this so that next time we’re in an even better place.” Are you making this same commitment at your plant?

The author is Staff Editor of QA magazine.