Food safety enters the 21st century

Store Equipment & Design, June, 2000 by David Litwak

Consumers are worried about food safety, which means retailers have to be more diligent. Like it or not, the food safety buck truly does stop at the supermarket checkout!

The beginning of the 21st century will probably become known as the era of food safety. In the history of man we've gone through different eras in the quest to feed the population. We've gone from trying to gather and grow enough food, to the era of distribution to the era of packaging and then hack again to the era of fresh foods, and we're still trying to figure out the era of distributing prepared foods. We're at the point in the evolutionary development of the food distribution system where food safety will emerge as the number one issue facing all participants along the food supply chain from farmer to consumer.

This industry is certainly no stranger to food safety concerns and trying to protect the food products in their charge. However, even the best efforts of the past will need to be rethought during the coming decade. This doesn't mean the industry hasn't done a good job in safeguarding consumers; it has. Nor does this mean the threat to the safety of the food supply will necessarily become more severe. The focus of the country will be on the issue of food safety. If the past is any predictor of the future, then the first place consumers and regulators will look to for safeguards and look at when a foul-up occurs is the supermarket. To be sure, the manufacturers and foodservice industry will receive their share of scrutiny, but the neighborhood market is traditionally the fat, red bull's-eye in the middle of food safety blame target.

"I think that we're just becoming more aware of it through better testing," says Guy Estep, a food safety consultant who spent 27 years as a sanitarian and food safety expert at Meijer, Grand Rapids, Mich. "The press has made that their main focus as of late.

"I think retailers are really doing all that they can and what we have to do is help educate the public. Once the product leaves the store we're at the mercy of the consumer."

On one hand, retailers have to be ready with plans not only to combat any accusations that are leveled against them when problems arise, but also to prevent problems before they arise. The best defense may be a well-planned and aggressive offense. The industry has already begun to take a proactive stance in many aspects of food safety, especially among fresh and freshly prepared foods, implementing HACCP plans for fresh foods and offering food handling training to employees and even customers.

Is there more of a threat today to the safety of our food or does it just seem that way from all the hype we read and hear in the media? The answer is that nobody knows for sure. Today's sophisticated scientific tests are sending mixed messages. They have revealed more pathogens in our food supply, but that's probably because the tests themselves never existed or weren't widely used before. There's nothing in the past to compare the present incidence levels to. Most experts say the tests do reveal the presence of the pathogens but that they were always present and that the food supply is safe if proper precautions are followed.

According to the Center For Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, food-borne disease caused an estimated 325,000 serious illnesses last year that resulted in hospitalization, and caused 5,000 deaths. There were projected to have been about 76 million cases of gastrointestinal illnesses as well.

"While the U.S. food supply remains one of the safest in the world, these new findings further support what we have said all along: The public health burden of food-borne disease is substantial," said Health and Human Service Secretary Donna Shalala. "Our investments in better tracking and surveillance systems have resulted in more complete data to help us evaluate ongoing and future food safety programs."

To date, the CDC has identified more than 400 food-related illnesses. These range from the very rare to those that affect thousands of victims on a daily basis. They also range from the fairly benign, bringing only mild discomfort to the most susceptible, to the most lethal of maladies. Such a breadth and depth of pathogens would appear to be impossible to safeguard against, but most problems can be controlled through basic sanitation, food preparation and handling techniques.

A just-released survey shows there is hope in winning the fight against these pathogens by simply being vigilant and applying good practices. A consortium of seven meat industry groups sponsored a study fielded in January and February that found that nearly 90 percent of the plants that manufacture ready-to-eat meat and poultry products do voluntary microbiological testing for Listeria. The government found that Listeria incidence has declined since the microbiological testing program began. President Clinton recently announced that the government would require that all plants manufacturing hot dogs and cold cuts test for Listeria. The government's goal is to reduce Listeria-caused illnesses by one-half over five years.