SQF (Safe Quality Foods), GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) and all the other schemes in the world do not manage our plants and farms every day. The goal is to find a system that everyone can follow, to develop a HACCP plan for their processes, and provide the develop a sanitation, product handling and processing plan that employees will use every day to protect the consuming public. And yet even with retailers demanding that suppliers have systems, we have to deal with individual people making decisions every day.
The retailers do not totally trust the schemes because they are still too easy to make the grade and are dependent on auditors to find the holes in the process and see that people are doing the right thing every day. How can you judge the adequacy of a sanitation program from reports? Is one inspection every year or two enough to keep producers and processors focused on food safety?
How many recalls have you seen this year? Produce still has issues with Salmonella, seafood issues with Listeria, C. botulinum, meat and produce E. coli. How many times have we seen recalls for allergens, when we know that multiple allergens are processed on the same line, but not shown on the labeling? Cilantro, smoked salmon, chocolate brownies? Will these be recalled this week?
Do you know as a consumer how well your manufacturers are performing? Maybe we need a rating system that is consumer run, not manufacturer, not retailer. Do you make an informed vote with your food dollars? How do we apply ethics to the mainstream and the fringes of the food industry? Let's devote ourselves to putting ethics back into all we do in our food industry. In the choices we make about what is "okay". In the ingredients we use. In the training that we give our people. In the accountability in our actions. Do you walk the walk and talk the talk? Is everything that you do the truth? Are the products you make beneficial to all concerned?
Where do you stand on food safety? Do the right thing everyday!
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