Retailers can do more: market microbial food safety
An editorial in Tuesday’s L.A. Times stated that,
“Retailers have both the clout to compel high standards and better tracking in agriculture and a direct reason to worry about consumers' concerns.”
In response, the Times published this letter from me:
“The Wal-Marts and McDonald's of the world have been requiring enhanced food safety from their suppliers for more than a decade, and, as your editorial notes, they may be the best advocates for consumers. Making customers sick is bad business.
But many of the checks and balances on supplying fresh produce, like the kind involved in this year's salmonella outbreak, are hidden and poorly validated. Any commodity is only as good as its worst grower.
There are too many outbreaks and too many sick people. It's time for retailers and restaurants to market microbial food safety and compete using safety as a selling point. This would introduce a heightened level of accountability throughout the farm-to-fork food safety system and capture the imagination of a public weary of food scares.
The first company that can reliably assure consumers they aren't eating poop on spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and any other fresh produce will make millions and capture markets. May the best food safety system win.
Douglas Powell
Manhattan, Kan.
The writer is an associate professor in food safety at Kansas State University.”
Emergency plans for retail food establishments
Now imagine it’s not just you and your family. It’s a restaurant, a store, even a really big store. The Conference for Food Protection (CFP) has released “practical guidance for retail grocery and food service establishments to plan and respond to emergencies that create the potential for an imminent health hazard.” It includes a list of on-line resources.
It’s a great starting point.
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Tomatoes continue to disappear from retail ...
Elizabeth Weise of USA Today reported this morning that simply washing tomatoes can help, but it won't necessarily remove the salmonella bacteria, because when tomatoes are picked on very hot days and put into cold water to chill, salmonella on their surface can be drawn up into the fruit.
David Acheson, director of the FDA's Food Safety and Security Staff, said that doesn't mean the public should stop washing produce, adding, "If there is surface contamination, washing is going to help remove it."
Below is a photo from the Tampa Tribune of a Burger King at Kennedy and West Shore boulevards, indicateing it's not serving tomatoes.
