Tag Archives: contamination

Robert Ferguson, Strategic Consulting

Increased Testing for Pathogens and More Complex Tests Means More Outsourcing

By Maria Fontanazza
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Robert Ferguson, Strategic Consulting

Companies are under more pressure to analyze food samples for pathogens, but not all of them have the expertise to handle the complexity involved in laboratory analysis. In addition, companies don’t want to risk contamination throughout their facility. As a result, many are outsourcing these services to contract labs.

Changing Landscape for Selecting a Food Safety Contract Laboratory

Strategic Consulting, Inc. recently conducted a study of food processors and the trends in outsourcing their laboratory testing work to food contract laboratories. The firm spoke with 100 food processors nationwide in 15 food processing categories, including protein, dairy, vegetables and packaged foods, inquiring about the types of samples they collect, how many are collected on a daily and monthly basis, their target analytes, and where they have the analysis performed (an in-plant lab, central company lab or an outsourced food contract laboratory); the firm also spoke with folks at leading food companies and a number of large food contract labs.

Bob Ferguson, managing director at Strategic Consulting, shared his insights with Food Safety Tech about the survey, the details of which will be presented at the Food Safety Consortium in December.

Food Safety Tech:  What were some of the major findings?

Bob Ferguson: Food processors continue to outsource more and more of their lab analysis.  This is a trend that we outlined in our Food-8 market report in 2014, and it is clearly continuing and growing. The impact is particularly acute in microbiology testing, especially when analysis is for pathogens.  Of the companies we surveyed, 87% did some amount of routine microbiology testing and 67% of those analyzed the samples at an in-house lab. But when asked about pathogens, 77% of the companies analyze samples for pathogens but only 34% analyze the samples at an in-house lab.  Clearly there is a higher level of concern in handling pathogens at in-house labs.

Food Safety Tech: What are the processors’ concerns regarding pathogens?

Ferguson: I would say that their concerns fall into two major categories: Technical and operational. From a technical perspective, there is always a risk when working with pathogens in a food processing facility. Microbiologists understand how easily bacteria can travel through a facility—being carried on employees, their clothing, or equipment, through air currents, or even through penetration connections such as drains. And most diagnostic tests not only require handling pathogen samples but also enriching the samples prior to analysis. The presence of food samples with high concentrations of pathogens can present a risk for the spread of contamination into production areas.

From an operational standpoint, running a food analysis lab is becoming increasingly more complex. Analytical methods continue to get more sensitive and sophisticated, and this requires more expertise and a greater focus on instrument service and calibrations.  Requirements for accreditation of food testing laboratories are also raising the bar for in-plant labs.  Finally, running a food lab requires recruiting and hiring skilled analysts. More food processors are coming to the conclusion that none of these functions are part of their core competencies and are electing to outsource that work to a contract lab.

Robert Ferguson, Strategic Consulting
Robert Ferguson, managing director, Strategic Consulting, Inc., will discuss the results of the survey at the 2016 Food Safety Consortium in December | LEARN MORE

Food Safety Tech:  What does this mean for food contract labs?

Ferguson: This could become a significant business growth opportunity for food contract laboratories.  As we indicated in our Food Contract Laboratory market report, microbiology is one of the largest business areas for most food contract laboratories, comprising, on average, approximately 52% of lab revenues and growing on average at 12% annually. The average lab also reports pathogen testing growth at more than 13%. This is remarkable in that the overall growth in sample volume is only growing 6%, so labs are clearly gaining a greater share of samples.

Food Safety Tech: Is this good news for the food contract laboratory companies?

Ferguson: Well, I would say that this will dramatically change the nature of competition and will be good news for some lab companies, namely those who can best adapt to the changing market conditions, but certainly not all.  Our analysis shows, for example, that about 70% of pathogen samples outsourced are sent to a lab within 100 miles of the food processing facility.   This bodes well for labs with a robust national network of locations. Single-location or limited-location labs may have trouble competing and will be acquired or otherwise may not survive. Also, as more samples get outsourced, the most efficient laboratories will have a competitive advantage. Our data also shows that outsourcing does not occur uniformly across all types and sizes of food processing companies, and laboratories may be at more or less risk depending on their customer mix or concentration in a particular food processing segment. Food contract laboratories that understand these factors will be in a better position to compete and thrive as the market changes.

Pathogen

IBM Research Uses Data to Accelerate Source of Contamination During Outbreaks

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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Pathogen

Using electronic retail scanner data from grocery stores, IBM Research scientists may have found a faster way to narrow down the potential source food contamination during an outbreak. Researchers from the firm conducted a study in which they were able to show that, using just 10 medical exam reports of foodborne illness, it is possible to pinpoint an investigation to 12 food products of interest in a only a few hours. A typically investigation ranges from weeks to months.

The study, “From Farm to Fork: How Spatial-Temporal Data can Accelerate Foodborne Illness Investigation in a Global Food Supply Chain”, demonstrated a new way to accelerate an outbreak investigation. Researchers reviewed the spatio-temporal data (i.e., geographic location and potential time of consumption) of hundreds of grocery products, and analyzed each product for shelf life, consumption location and the probability that the product harbored a pathogen. This information was then mapped to the known location of outbreaks.

“When there’s an outbreak of foodborne illness, the biggest challenge facing public health officials is the speed at which they can identify the contaminated food source and alert the public,” said Kun Hu, public health research scientist, IBM Research – Almaden in a press release. Rsearchers created a system to devise a list that ranked products based on likelihood of contamination, which would allow health officials to test the top 12 suspected foods. “While traditional methods like interviews and surveys are still necessary, analyzing big data from retail grocery scanners can significantly narrow down the list of contaminants in hours for further lab testing. Our study shows that big data and analytics can profoundly reduce investigation time and human error and have a huge impact on public health,” said Hu.

The researchers point of out their method isn’t a substitute for proven outbreak investigation tools but rather serves as a faster way to identify contaminated product(s). According to the study, researchers assert that their methodology could significantly reduce the costs associated with foodborne illness, outbreaks and recalls. Thus far IBM Research’s approach has been applied to a Norweigan E. coli outbreak in which there were 17 confirmed cases of infection. Public health officials used the method to devise a list of 10 potential contaminants from the grocery scanner data of more than 2600 products. From there, lab analysis traced the contamination source to batch and lot numbers of sausage.

The study was published in the Association for Computing Machinery’s Sigspatial Journal.

PCR Test, weighing milk powder

Spoil No More: Rapid Test for Dairy Products Goes Beyond Detecting Microbes

By Maria Fontanazza
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PCR Test, weighing milk powder

Detecting yeast and mold is one of the most time consuming parts of the testing process for dairy products. With more pressure to move products that have a short shelf life out the door as quickly as possible, time really is money. Having a rapid, real-time test that enables companies to make immediate production decisions can provide a significant advantage. “[This technology] brings test time within the same timeframe as other microbiology tests, so a test for yeast and mold is no longer the outlier. That’s a huge savings right there,” says Phil Coombs, product specialist at Weber Scientific.

biotecon_diagnostics_starprep
Weber Scientific was one of three recipients of the Food Expo Innovation Award on July 17, 2016 at the IFT Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Coombs is referring to Weber Scientific’s recently released PCR Yeast and Mold Quantitative Test, which has been validated for finished dairy products. The company was asked by Germany-based Biotecon Diagnostics, the creator of the newly developed PCR method, to be its partner in introducing the test to the U.S. market. The technology reduces testing time for yeasts and molds from five days to four hours or less—from sample prep to the time-to-result, with no pre-enrichment required. “We make a big deal out of this, because sometimes [companies] with a pathogen test will say they have a four-hour test but it’s not truly, from start-to-finish, a four-hour test—you have to do some form of pre-enrichment, and so it’s a 24–48 hour test,” says Coombs. “When looking at fermented milk product like yogurt, it might have a shelf life of about 50 days. There’s much more time for the yeast and mold (because they’re typically slower growing organisms) to get busy and spoil the product. Yeast and mold can tolerate the lower pH, so that’s been the biggest sector of interest so far.”

One of the features of the technology is its ability to protect against false-negative results from non-viable DNA and false-positives from previous PCR test runs, which greatly reduces the chances of cross-contamination as well.

PCR Test for dairy products
The PCR Yeast and Mold Quantitative Test conducts analysis on milk powder. Image courtesy of Weber Scientific.

Achieving a shorter time-to-result means that if a company uncovers an issue, it can take immediate remedial action rather than waiting several days. This can have a big economic impact on production and warehousing, along with releasing product into commerce and distribution, especially when dealing with products that require refrigeration. In addition, the PCR test goes beyond detecting microbes that will spoil fermented milk products and offers advantages in the broader context of reducing food waste and spoilage. “It will be attractive to many companies that are developing a broad range of sustainability measures,” says Fred Weber, president of Weber Scientific. “And to cut down on food waste at the consumer level is a big deal.”

The company expects AOAC approval next year.

3M Luminometer software

New Technology Rapidly Detects Contamination in Food Processing Facilities

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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3M Luminometer software

Managers in food processing facilities are under more pressure than ever to get their product out the door quickly, but they cannot sacrifice safety. A new technology developed by 3M can help them quickly identify potential contamination in their facility, which can help them determine whether to stop production. The Clean-Trace Hygiene Monitoring and Management System is a handheld luminometer that was developed with the help of food manufacturing professionals in positions from plant floor operators to company executives.

“We involved customers throughout the development and design of the entire system to automate and streamline what is in many cases a tedious, manual process of selecting test points, assigning them daily, conducting tests, documenting results, managing sample plans, and developing quality improvement measures,” said Tom Dewey, 3M Food Safety global marketing manager in a press release.

3M Clean-Trace Hygiene Monitoring and Management System (Photo courtesy of 3M)
3M Clean-Trace Hygiene Monitoring and Management System (Photo courtesy of 3M)

The company made improvements to the device’s industrial design to make it more durable and user friendly. Other features include reengineered optical technology with photomultiplier detectors; upgraded software with a streamlined dashboard; and the capability to transfer data between the luminometer and the software via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections.

Fast Facts about Biofilm

By Maria Fontanazza
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It hides in the crevices. Once it gets onto equipment, it can linger for years. It’s biofilm, a formation of bacteria that adheres to surfaces and can be quite difficult to eradicate. A host of microorganisms, including Listeria and Salmonella, are linked to biofilm contamination. The following are insights gathered from Dominique Blackman, general manager at Realzyme, LLC and Jeff Mitchell, vice president of food safety at Chemstar during Food Safety Tech’s recent Listeria Detection & Control Workshop.

Biofilm Facts

  • Protected by multiple layers of polysaccharides
  • Acts as binding site for antimicrobials as well as a diffusion site, protecting bacteria within
  • Mechanisms of dispersal
    • Active: Releases cells based on environmental changes
    • Passive: Occurs as a result of shear or agitation (i.e., when doing deep cleans or moving equipment)
  • Hot spots
    • Transfer points in facility
    • Product contact points on equipment
    • Drains
    • Seams in walls/floor-wall junctures
    • Door seals
    • Cart wheels
    • Overhead vents and pipes
  • Causes a variety of problems within food manufacturing facilities, including:
    • Product contamination = Economic loss (i.e., as a result of recalls)
    • Reduced product shelf life (i.e., result of recurring contamination)
    • Reduced productivity, especially when equipment isn’t cleaned properly
    • Bacterial resistance to disinfection
    • Surface corrosion (the longer biofilm is in one place, the more time it has to damage equipment)
  • Successful removal requires complete penetration of extracellular polymeric substance without inactivating any sanitizer
Dave Shumaker, GoJo
Retail Food Safety Forum

Navigating the Complexities of Common Foodborne Illnesses

By Dave Shumaker
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Dave Shumaker, GoJo

Did you know there are more than 250 different types of foodborne illnesses? And while that number may seem daunting, especially when one in six Americans become ill from consuming contaminated foods or beverages each year, there are a few foodborne germs that are responsible for the majority of illness outbreaks, according to the CDC.1 What are these illnesses? What are their symptoms? What can you do to help reduce the risk of an outbreak happening at your restaurant?

The CDC estimates that approximately 48 million people get sick from a foodborne illness each year, with 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. And of these numbers, there are two common illnesses that stand out—norovirus and Salmonella. In fact, these two pathogens account for nearly 70% of all foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States.

Norovirus

Norovirus is responsible for 58% of domestically acquired foodborne illnesses and nearly half of all foodborne disease outbreaks due to known agents.2 Of these instances, most norovirus outbreaks occur in a food service setting, particularly restaurants.

Oftentimes, infected employees are the cause of these types of outbreaks. For example, individuals who are exhibiting symptoms come to work and contaminate food by touching either ready-to-eat foods or food-contact surfaces with their bare hands, which can lead to cross contamination.

Norovirus spreads easily and quickly, so people can contract it by not only by consuming contaminated foods or beverages, but also from having direct contact with individuals who are infected with the virus or touching surfaces or objects that have norovirus on them as well. In addition, norovirus outbreaks can also occur from foods that are contaminated at their source.2

In this video about Norovirus, I discuss the actions you can take, which includes practicing good hand hygiene, to reduce the risk of a norovirus outbreak negatively impacting your restaurant.

Salmonella

Each year in the United States, Salmonella is responsible for 1 million foodborne illnesses, 19,000 hospitalizations and 380 deaths.3 In fact, the pathogen accounts for 11% of all foodborne illnesses in the United States.

People become infected with Salmonella by either eating contaminated food that has not been properly cooked or has been contaminated after preparation.4 Salmonella is often found in raw food products that come from animals such as eggs, meat, and unpasteurized milk and dairy products.

While Salmonella is fairly common, measures can be taken to help reduce the risk of infection, such as through proper cooking and holding temperatures. In addition, proper disinfection and sanitization of food contact surfaces (i.e., countertops and cutting boards) helps reduce the risk of cross contamination. Practicing good hand hygiene before eating, and before and after preparing food can also help prevent the spread of this bacterium.

No one ever thinks their restaurant will fall victim to a foodborne illness outbreak, but it can happen and these outbreaks are more common than you may think. It is critical for you to share information about foodborne pathogens and prevention with your staff. This type of education and training can have a significant benefit to your restaurant.

References

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Foodborne Germs and Illnesses. Accessed May 8, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/foodborne-germs.html
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Burden of Norovirus Illness and Outbreaks. Accessed May 8, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/php/illness-outbreaks.html
  3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Salmonella. Accessed May 17, 2016. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/
  4. Vermont Department of Health. Salmonella. Accessed May 23, 2016. Retrieved from http://healthvermont.gov/prevent/salmonella/Salmonella.aspx
Gina Kramer, Savour Food Safety International

Industry’s Responsibility to Protect Consumers from Listeria

By Maria Fontanazza
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Gina Kramer, Savour Food Safety International

The ubiquitous nature of Listeria has made it a difficult pathogen to detect, control, and find its root cause. Led by Gina Kramer, executive director of Savour Food Safety International, attendees of last week’s Listeria Detection & Control Workshop learned everything from the cost of Listeria ($1.4 million per case and $2.3–$22 billion in the United States annually) to the challenges of breaking down biofilms to the steps a company should be taking to do sanitation right and get rid of resident Listeria in their facility. Here’s a snapshot of what experts said as they addressed industry’s obligation to ensure that their facilities are constantly monitored for contamination to ensure that safe product comes out of their plants.

People equate local and organic with safer, safer, safer. That’s not true, because pathogens are agnostic. ­– Gina Kramer, executive director, Savour Food Safety International Gina Kramer, Savour Food Safety International
John Besser, CDC Whole genome-based outbreak detection allows us to detect more quickly, with greater precision in identifying source — John Besser, Ph.D., Deputy Chief, Enteric Diseases Laboratory Branch, CDC
 What’s happening in your plants? What are you taking into your processing plant? What time of year is it coming in? What is your environment—is it more urban or rural? The presence of Listeria isn’t any greater in an urban or rural environment. You might find it in different places, but there isn’t a difference in incidence.  – Janet Buffer, corporate food safety manager, The Kroger Co.  Janet Buffer, Kroeger Company
Dominique Blackman, Realzyme  Biofilm erupts like a volcano. But once it has erupted, your volcano goes dormant. And for how long? Nobody knows. That’s the problem. The biofilm can release two days later, a week, or a month later.  – Dominique Blackman, general manager, Realzyme
 Listeria testing is the ugly duckling in preventive controls. Companies need to ask themselves whether the method they use is able to detect potential positives in the environment. – Ted Andrews, senior director, product marketing, Roka Bioscience  Ted Andrews, Roka Bioscience
 Jeff Mitchell, Chemstar Sanitation is not one size fits all. You need to have specific controls in place that look at controlling Listeria not just for equipment but periodic infrastructure and equipment and routines. Validate that they work. Train employees so they properly execute.  – Jeff Mitchell, vice president of food safety, Chemstar
 You’ve identified Listeria in your facility.  Now what? Review touch points: This includes the air, surfaces, transportation and packaging areas. – Troy Smith, CEO, Radiant Industrial Solutions, LLC  Troy Smith, Radiant
 11_FSTListeria_DougMarshall If you get everything mostly right, what are the odds that you’ll find a pathogen in end product testing? Getting the proper data point is a big deal. – Douglas Marshall, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, Eurofins

 

Shawn K. Stevens, Food Industry Counsel
Food Safety Attorney

Find Contamination, Reduce Pathogens, and Decrease Criminal Liability

By Shawn K. Stevens
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Shawn K. Stevens, Food Industry Counsel

In recent years, several food products typically considered safe by consumers have fallen victim to recalls as a result of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm). Caramel apples, ice cream, packaged salads and frozen vegetables were responsible for sickening dozens of people and killing more than 10. These products are part of an alarming group of common foods that have caused outbreaks, including milk, spinach, sprouts, peanut butter, cheese, cantaloupes and raw cookie dough. And the broad range of pathogens causing these outbreaks is just as diverse, and they continue to find creep into food processing facilities, finished food products and consumer homes.

At the 2016 Food Safety Consortium, Shawn Stevens will moderate the workshop session, Bringing the final FMSA pieces together: You have a basic preventative control program, what’s left? | Friday, December 9 | LEARN MORERegardless of sophistication or expertise in pathogen control, there isn’t a single company out there that is immune to the risk of contamination. Why? Well much of the foods (or ingredients) that we consume are grown and harvested in environments that are susceptible to contamination. Fruits, vegetables and other products, such as spices, can easily become contaminated with Lm, Salmonella or E. coli in the fields where they are grown, in transit or in the processing facilities.

Once pathogens are introduced into the processing environment, they can quickly spread and contaminate food products. Recent studies reveal that Listeria is a significant concern in these environments. For example, out of 5,000 samples from the food preparation areas of 30 retail grocery establishments, approximately 10% tested positive for Lm. These are scary numbers considering almost 16% of those who become infected with Lm will die.

In today’s new environment, FDA will be seeking justification to bring criminal charges whenever a contaminated product causes human illness. You should be nervous about this: If your company sells finished goods into commerce, those products may be selected for sampling and testing, and your company runs the risk that the results will come back positive for a pathogen of concern. And what’s more troubling is the fact that many companies do not conduct environmental testing in their food processing facilities, and so they have no idea whether pathogens (whether transient or resident) are lurking within their facilities. Thus, a microbiological profiling study conducted under the veil of the attorney-client privilege should be conducted to determine the presence of any microbiological persistence issues within a facility. Upon completion of the study, a company should invest in pathogen-reduction technologies to decrease the chances that FDA will uncover pathogens in the environment during an inspection. Finally perform a criminal protection audit to help strengthen company programs and develop protocols that will further protect against criminal exposure.

The bottom line is that if food companies do not take extraordinary measures to identify Lm in their facilities, perform a comprehensive investigation to find the root cause or source, and then destroy and eliminate it completely, the pathogen will likely persist and, over time, intermittently contaminate their finished products.

Microbiological Profiling Studies

Lesson number one from the Blue Bell Lm outbreak is that pathogens can be extremely elusive and, as a result, a simple environmental monitoring program will never save your company from being involved in an outbreak or being the focus of criminal sanctions. All food companies should be aggressively testing for Lm (or other pathogens, depending upon the product risk profile) in their facilities and must take strong action against sporadic or intermittent positive findings. Although many food companies view a single operational failure as the culprit of an outbreak, the reality is that in most cases, the cause is something far more subtle, far more persistent, and far more dangerous. In recent years, a large number of outbreaks have involved Lm and antibiotic-resistant Salmonella that was linked to products that had been processed over multiple months.

Food companies should conduct a comprehensive one-time microbiological profile for pathogens in their processing facilities. Be sure to coordinate your profiling study with a lawyer experienced in food safety to make sure that the study is designed correctly and that the results will be protected under the attorney-client privilege.  Once the results are reported, the company can take care of any positive findings, identify the contamination source, implement technologies to reduce and control the contamination, and develop a microbiological control and monitoring program to ensure that the pathogen remains controlled moving forward.

Pathogen Reduction Technologies

The second lesson learned from the Blue Bell case is that, when Lm or any resistant pathogen is found sporadically in the environment, what was once regarded as effective corrective actions (i.e., re-cleaning, re-sanitizing and re-testing) are no longer enough. In addition to existing cleaning and sanitizing procedures, companies should use new pathogen  reduction  technologies  to  help  control  the  environment.

Inexpensive air and surface treatment technology that sanitizes the food processing environment is now available. The treatment is approved for use in occupied spaces and provides 24-hour treatment of the environment. By using active air and surface treatment, food processing companies can gain a level of control and decrease the possibility that any pathogen, if introduced, will persist or establish a niche.

Puradigm, LLC, for instance, utilizes a multi- patented, NASA-based active air and surface sterilization approach to control pathogens in the food processing environment. In studies performed by Kansas State University, the company obtained a 2.9 Log reduction on environmental food contact surfaces in the food processing environment. Similar reductions for other pathogens are displayed in Table I.1

Microbial reduction, Puradigm
Microbial reductions on stainless steel associated with 24-hour treatment using Puradigm advanced oxidation cell

I make this observation because, given the risk created by the FDA’s war on pathogens, food companies should invest in technologies to better control pathogens in their food processing environments. Once these preventative technologies are put into place, companies can perform periodic microbiological monitoring to validate that the controls are effective and working as designed. If such solutions are employed, there is a greater likelihood that when FDA arrives to perform microbiological profiling, the agency will be less likely to find positive test results from the food processing environment, better protecting food companies from additional regulatory or criminal exposure.

Criminal Protection Audits

In addition to commissioning microbiological profiling studies in facilities and employing active air and surface sterilization technologies, food companies should also perform internal criminal protection audits. These audits should be designed to identify gaps in existing company protocols and develop written programs designed to help navigate the challenges posed by any food safety issues uncovered.

If developed correctly, the written program should provide the company with a decision-tree to follow in the event of a positive environmental finding, a series of customer complaints relating to the safety of a product, or a notification from a governmental entity of a potential food safety problem. These protocols and programs, if followed in the event of a food safety issue, can help ensure that the conduct of the company in response to any such issues will in all cases be appropriate, and that there will not be any basis upon which FDA or DOJ could support criminal charges.

Conclusion

The FDA (in cooperation with DOJ) has launched a war on pathogens. The agency is targeting food products at retail and engaging in microbiological profiling of all food companies. Unless companies act now to better quantify and control pathogens in the food processing environment, they are exposing themselves to incredible food safety risk, including significant brand damage (in the event of a recall) and criminal sanctions (if their product is linked to human illness). Companies must carefully consider the emerging risks facing them and take measures to decrease and eliminate their exposure.

Reference

  1. GC/MS Evaluation of Compounds in Air Samples in a Controlled Environmental Chamber Equipped with a Puradigm Advanced Technology Cell, November 5, 2013, Dr. James Marsden, Kansas State University Food Science Institute.
Randy Fields, Repositrak
FST Soapbox

Insurance and Food Safety: A Primer for the C-Suite

By Randy Fields
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Randy Fields, Repositrak

Food safety risk is now a greater concern for retailers and manufacturers than ever before due to the combination of FSMA and increased consumer concerns. Supply chains are more complex, product recalls and foodborne illness outbreaks occur more frequently, and the new normal is prevention rather than inspection. Wrap that all up with advanced technology and the 24-hour news cycle, and consumers are acutely becoming aware of food safety issues as soon as they occur.

What this means for all of the participants in the global food supply chain is that you should review your insurance policies and look for gaps in coverage where you may be exposed. While no two recalls are the same, and foodborne illness outbreaks impact affected companies in different ways, certain trends have emerged to help better understand the claim friction points that frustrate companies after a food safety event.

Two of the most important tools to mitigate food safety risk are contaminated product insurance (CPI) and product recall insurance (PRI). Inventory, cost of refunds and recall expenses are three of the largest recall loss items suffered by companies. Combined, they are the largest percentage of loss (nearly 50%) and represent a substantial portion of uncovered loss for any insured under CPI/PRI. The sole basis for this frustrating friction point is simple—lack of traceability.

CPI/PRI only covers losses that result directly from a covered insured event. If a company is unable to support its claim that costs are directly related to the event and the resulting recall or outbreak, it will not be reimbursed under a CPI/PRI policy. And, as such, loss amounts are generally not covered under general liability and property policies either, so a significant portion of a company’s loss remains uncovered.

Here’s a recent claim example to illustrate the impact on a company that lacked the capability to properly trace its products. An insured purchased a CPI policy with a $2 million Accidental Contamination limit. An event occurred involving a contaminated food product, which triggered that coverage. During the review, the insured provided spreadsheets supporting nearly $1.1 million in customer credits for product shipped and either returned by the customer for disposal or destroyed by the customer. Unfortunately, based on a review of the information provided in support of the spreadsheets, the accountants found that the insured was unable to properly trace and support its claim that the returned or destroyed product was affected by the insured event recall. Under these circumstances, the accountants were only able to confirm $187,000 in losses. The result: The company was unable to recover nearly $1 million in potentially covered losses because it lacked traceability. These outcomes are not uncommon.

The insurance industry understands food safety risks and the need to evolve products to meet the needs of food industry clients. Companies can’t totally mitigate all food safety issues, but understanding the risks is the best way for a business to protect itself. Insurance industry leaders are working in partnership with their food sector clients to ensure that risks are better understood and that the client has appropriate systems in place to help mitigate them.

Insurance companies are tailoring their products to ensure that policies are developed to address the recall risks caused by regulatory changes and help companies ensure compliance as well as an understanding of the regulatory requirements. However, food companies may increasingly find coverage and limits adjusted lower for government recalls in high-risk environments. Insurers are also a key player in the promotion of food safety standards, and some offer favorable rates to food industry clients who are graded top tier for safety.

Some insurers go a step further, allowing clients to allocate a portion of their premium for pre-incident risk-analysis and crisis-response services. Top insurers provide clients access to a network of crisis management specialists as part of their food safety coverage. They should offer risk management guidance in areas such as food safety risk, regulatory compliance, supply chain management and product security.

One of the most critical risk mitigation tactics is developing long-term relationships with trusted, but verified, suppliers, distributors and other key partners. It is also important for companies to undertake regular site visits to their manufacturers or suppliers, and commission third-party audits to maintain reliability and transparency.

Not if, but when a product recall occurs, a company faces a myriad of risks. As with food safety, preventive planning can pay off significantly. By proactively working with insurers, trading partners and technology vendors you can reduce if not eliminate the negative impact of the event.

FSMA

FSMA Intentional Adulteration Rule Released

By Food Safety Tech Staff
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FSMA

–UPDATE (5/27/2016)– The final rule has been published on the Federal Register‘s website. –END UPDATE–

FDA just released the final FSMA rule, “Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration”. Under the rule, domestic and foreign food facilities must complete and maintain a written food defense plan that assesses their vulnerabilities to intentional contamination.

“Today’s final rule on intentional adulteration will further strengthen the safety of an increasingly global and complex food supply,” said Stephen Ostroff, M.D., incoming FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine in a press release. “The rule will work in concert with other components of FSMA by preventing food safety problems before they occur.”

The final rule will be published on the Federal Register tomorrow. To preview the PDF document, visit the Federal Register’s website.