Acting For Safety's Sake

Cold chain partners step up efforts to prevent contamination as new legislation takes effect.

Every year, one out of six people in the United States — about 48 million people — get sick due to foodborne illnesses; more than 100,000 of them are hospitalized, and thousands die.

Those statistics from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), should concern all grocery retailers, since their bottom line ultimately depends on the safety of the products they sell.

"The media, including social media, has created a hair trigger for food safety issues, both national and local," says Elliott Grant, chief marketing officer at Redwood City, Calif.-based HarvestMark, maker of turnkey solutions for whole-chain food traceability. "Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli will stay news during a food contamination event until the source is isolated."

"When outbreaks occur, you can see consumer confidence take a dip, and it directly impacts the category, not just the individual supplier or retailer, as well as other tangential categories," says Geoff Koontz, VP of marketing at Sterilox, a division of Malvern, Pa.-based PuriCore, which develops products that kill contagious pathogens.

To stem the incidence of foodborne illness and improve overall food safety, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which President Obama signed into law in January 2011, includes provisions that will help keep food safe as it moves through the supply chain.

"The biggest food safety hot button that I hear about right now is the Food Safety Modernization Act," says Lowell Randel, director of government affairs for the Alexandria, Va.-based Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA). "People are generally aware that the legislation was enacted, but are unsure what impact it will have on them. I get a lot of questions from industry members about what new requirements they need to follow, and right now most of the key regulations are still in the development process."

FSMA Highlights

At its core, FSMA shifts the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it. And although many regulations are in the planning stages, industry experts agree rules that address preventive controls and traceability will be key throughout the cold chain.

For the first time, for example, the FDA has a legislative mandate to require comprehensive, prevention-based controls across the food supply. That means food facilities will have to evaluate their operations' hazards; implement and monitor effective measures to prevent contamination; and have a plan in place to take any necessary corrective actions. FDA also must establish science-based standards for the safe production and harvesting of fruits and vegetables to minimize the risk of serious illnesses or death.

Improving whole-chain traceability — tracking food along the entire food chain — is another important provision, according to HarvestMark's Grant, who notes that the way FDA can request records related to food safety has changed significantly.

Companies must make information available within 24 hours from the time an official request is received, and FDA can ask for records going back up to two years.

Dr. Rich Linton, chairman of the Food Science and Technology Department at Ohio State University in Columbus, notes that improved tracking of food throughout the food distribution system, and the ability to communicate with customers who have purchased damaged product, are important advancements FSMA likely will bring.

"Certainly, there will be more effort on assuring that fruit and vegetable products are grown and processed using better food-handling practices. Expect good agricultural practices (GAPs) to be much more visible from the farm all the way to retail," says Linton, who works with the National Registry of Food Safety Professionals. "There also will likely be the need to better assure that time/temperature controls are in place during distribution and storage and display at retail."

Industry Response

Companies that serve the food industry are developing products to help everyone throughout the cold chain comply with FSMA's new requirements and improve the safety of the nation's food supply.

HarvestMark has pioneered solutions such as featuring QR codes on packaging to bring item-level traceability all the way to the consumer.

Sun America Imports LLC, a Central American melon shipper, uses the HarvestMark sticker on its imported cantaloupes and honeydew melons. "In this day and age, and especially with melons, we want to demonstrate to our retail customers our commitment to food safety," says Drew Kislin, managing director of Pompano Beach, Fla.-based SunAmerica Imports.

Fastening the Chain

Locus Traxx, a Jupiter, Fla.-based company that specializes in delivering real-time shipment information, began with SmartTraxx, a permanently installed shipment monitoring solution.

The company then developed SmartTraxx Portable, a portable, reusable, battery-powered version of the continuous monitoring system, which attaches to any trailer. It detects door-open and -closed events, monitors shipment temperature using a wireless SmartTag temperature sensor, and uses GPS to track shipment location.

Locking It In

Closer to the source, Sterilox offers its Fresh System that kills harmful pathogens by generating a natural, ondemand, eco-friendly food-sanitizing solution using water, salt and electricity.

Keeping an eye on pre-harvest technology and animal well-being, New York-based Pfizer Animal Health is using the Escherichia Coli Bacterial Extract vaccine with SRP technology to reduce the presence of E. coli O157 pathogens in cattle, a move aimed at curbing the incidence of contaminated beef getting to store shelves.

While nobody knows exactly how FSMA's new regulations will impact the food industry, one thing is certain: The way products move from farm to retail stores to customers' kitchens will change in ways that ultimately will improve food safety and, in the process, reduce the incidence of foodborne disease.

"Foodborne illness is largely preventable if everyone in today's global food chain could be held responsible and accountable at each step for controlling hazards that can cause illness," FDA stresses.

For more information about the Food Safety Modernization Act, visit www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FSMA/default.htm and www.progressivegrocer.com.

"Foodborne illness is largely preventable if everyone in today's global food chain could be held responsible and accountable at each step for controlling hazards that can cause illness."

—FDA

"When outbreaks occur, you can see consumer confidence take a dip, and it directly impacts the category, not just the individual supplier or retailer."

—Geoff Koontz, Sterilox