Economics of Safety

The fresh-cut industry has largely been spared from the recent devastating recalls in peanut products and pistachios, but there’s an indirect consequence any time food safety is on center stage.

The appointees to various agencies are still getting their feet wet, or in some cases have yet to be named, but already there’s talk of increased enforcement in the food industry. Not only has FDA taken a leadership role in encouraging companies to recall products affected by the peanut or pistachio salmonella findings, the agency also has served warrants on facilities that failed to recall potentially contaminated products. FDA has also been cooperating in the federal investigation of the Peanut Corporation of America, which supplied the bulk peanut products contaminated with salmonella to almost 4,000 different products from 357 companies.

While some may choose to look at the increased enforcement as a source of worry – with the economy doing so poorly, who wants to spend more money on food safety? But that’s the opposite of what should be happening. Food safety expenditures at processing facilities should be fully funded and exempt from cutbacks. A qualified food safety manager and trained staff ensure that the final product going to customers is as free from contaminants as possible. There’s never a 100 percent guarantee, but the closer a processor is to 100 percent, the more secure that brand is in the long run.

Cutting back on spending for food safety is like going out and buying a $60,000 sports car, and then saving a few bucks by not insuring it. You might be confident enough in your driving skills to know you’re not going to wreck it and wise enough not to let your teenage kids take it out. But what if something happens that’s not your fault? A careless driver could rear end the new car, a mechanical failure could cause an engine compartment fire or any other act of god could destroy the car. Not only are you out one vehicle, you still owe the bank for the entire loan on the car plus interest.

Few of us would neglect to get insurance on a new car, but some would be willing to cut back on food safety in the name of cutting costs. That might work out in the short run, but if an outbreak occurs, your company can be held liable for injuries in a court of law, but individuals also can be held criminally responsible if they failed to correct known problem areas or didn’t take due diligence to protect the food supply.

Having the best food safety program possible not only protects customers, it also protects you and your company.




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