Pressure Is Building Beneath Our Feet

The passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) four years ago, in January 2011, has often been said to be the greatest change in U.S. food safety practices in decades. While FSMA is certainly bringing extensive change and is intended to effect wide-range improvement, particularly in the area of preventive controls, there is an even greater pressure for change that is descending on the food industry.

Like that of a volcano eruption, the pressure has been building beneath the feet of industry for years, sometimes softly gaining steam, other times rumbling to flare up in molten outbursts. As witnessed by the references in many of the articles in this issue of QA, as well as those of recent issues, the rumblings are becoming louder, the outbursts more frequent, and the industry impact greater as consumers become more and more vocal in their food safety, quality, and “fad”-based demands.

It’s an interesting time, filled with pros and cons; knowledge and misinformation; science and anecdotes; blogs, media, and consumer/industry confrontation.
 

It’s a building eruption that industry can’t ignore because the sale of its products—the very foundation of business—is at stake. In this issue alone, you’ll find allusions and direct references to the groundswell, including:

• Ethical Sourcing (page 54) discusses consumers’ “increasing influence and higher demands on food producers,” and the steps industry is taking to satisfy these.
• From the Plant Floor (page 65) shows the negative side of the fads and trends, as industry is pressured to cater to fads and trends that don’t always consider science or fact—and food suppliers across the chain are encouraged (in song) to “correct the wrongs of these pundits and the fearful media.”
• In the supply chain management discussion of adulteration prevention in From the Advisory Board (page 62), the point is made that, “Like many of today’s hot issues (e.g., lean finely textured meat, labeling of GMOs), the case was less one of food safety and more that of consumer perception.”
• Even when analyzed from an economical viewpoint, as in Food Safety is Good for Business (page 26) from our newest Advisory Board member, Jorge Hernandez of US Foods, it is said, “People don’t always realize that when you do good for food safety, you do good for the business.”
   

It’s not the first time I’ve discussed consumer impact, perception, or the responsibility for consumer education in this column, in feature articles (See The Food Safety Battle Cover Story of January-February 2015), and even at conferences at which I’ve been invited to speak. But, as validated by the numerous references made by experts cited in QA within the context of various topics, there is a growing movement that is unlikely to be quelled. And, rather than running from the pending eruption, it is a movement in which industry needs to join to understand the demands … correct the wrongs … impact consumer perception … and do good for business.