At the annual HACCP conference held in Sydney late last year, The Fresh Produce Safety Centre’s Richard Bennett stated he could “almost predict” the next incident would involve locally grown salad vegetables in the form of a ready-to-eat product.
The technology manager was closer to the truth than any of the attendees realised, as news unfolded of contaminated packaged lettuce and the resulting product recall last week.
At The Fresh Produce Safety Centre, Bennett has an ongoing concern about the reliability of fresh produce.
He strongly believes growers need to work collectively to prevent issues such as contamination rather than trying to prepare for worst-case scenarios on their own.
He says the average grower often has a small budget and might not be equipped to deal with a scandal without support.
“Despite our best intentions, we still have issues,” he says.
“And there’s so much at stake if a major outbreak occurs, including loss of reputation, the cost of the recall, with livelihoods on hold, the loss of customers, pending litigation, and the threat of additional regulation.
“The industry also potentially loses freedom to operate, and goodwill and trust is eroded.
"For example, as a result of the Patties scandal, consumers are less likely to trust berries.”
Bennett believes strong communication and collaboration within the supply chain is vital, and he says a good manager will dig deep to uncover the root cause of the problem.
However, he is concerned that, as consumers outsource more meals through quick-service restaurants and institutional meals, the risk of contamination is even greater now.
At the time of the conference, he said:
“I can almost predict the next incident will be locally grown salad vegetables in the form of a ready-to-eat product – probably from a quick-service restaurant.”
He went on to state:
“Close to 26 per cent of food-borne illness is linked to leafy greens alone.
“The hard thing is, we have so little control over how the media spins the story.
“We need to be social media-ready and to also keep an eye out for emerging pathogens rather than just dealing with the ones in the textbook.
And when there is a problem, we need to identify the root cause of the problem – which might be simply the cow [manure rather than the processing equipment].”
WORST CASE SCENARIOS
Richard Bennett listed some of the most notable incidents of contamination or misinformation in 2014 and 2015.
- Undeclared allergens found in peanut and tree nut spreads;
- L.mono detected in stone fruit from the US;
- Salmonella in a cheese and pistachio dip;
- Kiwifruit contaminated with cyanide in New Zealand;
- Salmonella found in leafy vegetables, most likely caused by fertiliser or cow manure;
- Hep A found in Patties’ frozen berries.
To see our complete Fresh Produce report in the digital issue of Food & Drink Business, click here.
