With or Without Regulation, Industry Needs to Self-Police

In the July/August issue of QA, we asked "Is transportation the weak link?" The special section focused on the issues of food safety and defense and the lack of control that food processors and manufacturers have over their food products in transport.

Since the publication of that issue, food transportation has increasingly gained attention, both in the media and at industry events:

• On September 22, the TODAY show aired a report on food temperature violations in food delivery trucks.
• On the same day, a report by Indianapolis' WTHR noted that state police say the problem with "hot trucks" (refrigerated units that turn temperatures down or off) is getting worse, and regulatory loopholes need to be closed to protect the food supply.
• Even small towns are seeing issues—a Trenton, N.J., newspaper reported on a rise in food delivery robberies, with four such robberies occurring in 10 days. (September 26)
• Mitigating Risk in Transportation was a topic at the September Food Safety Compliance and Risk Conference (marcus evens conferences), with speakers recommending that the food industry use only specified, bonded carriers; have carrier agreements; and push for increased security—especially with less than truckload (LTL) shipments.

Regulation. Although the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) includes requirements that FDA develop regulations for the sanitary transportation of food and conduct a study of U.S. food transportation, it does not provide FDA with any new regulatory authority in this area.

As noted in the QA article, it is this very lack of regulatory authority over the food traveling across our nation's highways, airways, and train tracks that continues to make transportation a weak link in the chain of food safety and defense.

Prior to the passage of FSMA, the industry waged an ongoing debate over regulation vs. self-policing. While the federal government may have "won" the debate as far as the FSMA requirements will carry it, the Act has not eliminated the industry's need for proactive initiatives, self-policing, and government and consumer communication as shown in this month's articles, "Minimize Contamination Risk" (p. 48) and Animal Welfare: "Educating Consumers to Change Perception" (p. 52).

Regardless of regulation, keeping food safe from the farm, "The Chef's Garden" (p. 14), through transportation to the fork will continue to require policing by food processors and manufacturers, not only of themselves but of those forward and back in the chain.

The author is Editor of QA magazine. She can be reached at llupo@gie.net.