To look across the horizon at issues that have worried Americans in recent years, it might seem that one topic, in particular, has gained in elevation: food safety.

Among the events that helped trigger this apparent rise in food safety’s national prominence was the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in 2006 linked to fresh bagged spinach. Soon after that came a large outbreak linked to peanut butter and then the 2007 discovery of melamine and melamine-related compounds in wheat gluten that led to the deaths of many pets in the United States. This was followed by another and even more devastating outbreak of salmonellosis linked to peanut butter that really got Congress to focus on deficiencies in U.S. food safety legislation.

Since 2006, the number of “new” foods linked to outbreaks that had never before been implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks has continued to grow. Some have asked why this is happening? Is it because the U.S. food safety system has suddenly become more lax? Is it because food in the U.S. is less safe than it used to be?

I don’t believe either is correct; I surmise that these products have been causing illness for years but we just never recognized it. Improvements in the genetic fingerprinting of microbes and enhancements in investigations has resulted in this growing list of novel food items being linked to outbreaks for the first time.

Despite these shifts in the types of foods linked to outbreaks, there is little if anything to suggest the total number of outbreaks has risen significantly in recent years, or that the number of people diagnosed with foodborne illness is much different than it was 10 years ago. Data from the Centers for Disease Control Food Net database would suggest that foodborne illness actually has changed little over the past decade. While there are suggestions that E. coli O157:H7 infections have declined in the last year and that Vibrio infections have continued to rise, one has to view these trends with an eye of skepticism to believe they really represent any major change in the numbers of food borne illnessess.

Attention ratcheted up by media and government.

Another, and I believe significant, change to the food safety landscape in recent years is the way the media is now focused on food safety. Some segments of the mainstream media have done a spectacular job of investigating and reporting on major gaps in food safety and should be applauded for their role in keeping regulatory agencies on their toes. Others, however, have used their privileged platform to frighten the reader through highly selective reporting of the facts.
A second significant change in media is the explosion of social media and its ability to raise awareness and disseminate information about foodborne illness threats and contaminated products. Social media can be an extremely valuable public health tool when there is a need to get the word out fast about a contaminated product. It can also quickly spread misleading and incorrect information with no control over content or ability to correct erroneous messages.

Congress, food regulators and food industry leaders are all taking action as a result of these changing dynamics in the world of food safety. The high profile food-related outbreaks have resulted in greater scrutiny by Congress and new actions by the administration. The current environment is one of increasing regulatory and legislative oversight. Regulators are more proactive, especially at the FDA, which results in: more enforcement actions, such as recalls, import alerts and warning letters; greater focus on the safety of imported foods; and a push for requirements for strong preventive control measures and performance standards.

At the congressional level new food legislation has passed the House and a key Senate committee and has wide bipartisan support. I suspect the only reason it has not yet been enacted is a spate of high profile issues, such as finance reform and the BP oil spill, which have crowded out the legislative agenda. I know from my years as a regulator that the tide has turned and that new legislation is just a matter of time. It might take another outbreak, like the peanut butter outbreak, to force the issue but new food safety legislation will pass, whether this year or next, and when it is enacted it will be the most sweeping reform of food safety legislation since the FD&C Act was created in 1938.

Industry needs to stay on top of changes.

Impacts on the food industry from this changing landscape are also significant. The current global food supply and food industry is one of the most complex systems of modern society. The average American consumer expects all types of food to be available year round at their local store. The consumer has zero tolerance for unsafe food, and we have now almost reached the point where the food industry is castigated for suggesting that consumers have a role to play in handling and preparing their food safely (such as cooking a product to an adequate temperature).
One could almost ask why would anyone want to earn a living by operating in the food sector, where the profit margins are low, the risks are high, and a brand can be destroyed overnight in the court of public opinion? Yet we all have to eat and thus the industry moves on.

However, in order to survive, the food industry needs to recognize the changing dynamics in the world of food safety. These dynamics are no longer always driven by science, but increasingly are being influenced by both societal and political pressures. A potent mix that anyone in the food industry needs to keep on top of.

Nobody is or should be sitting still

While many continue to focus on new food safety regulations as being the most important answer to modern food safety, they are but a part of the equation. There is no doubt it is time to update food safety regulations, but regulations are toothless without the capacity to enforce and enforcement will not happen without resources. The regulators are asking for these resources but they aren’t waiting on them. They also are looking to increase their enforcement capacity through more efficient use of technology and collaborations with other government entities.

Improved detection and epidemiological tools likely will link more outbreaks to specific foods in the coming years, adding to the ever-increasing list of “high-risk” food. Thus, even in the absence of new food safety legislation, there are many other drivers in the changing landscape that food companies need to address. These include having good visibility of the upstream supply chain, understanding how product tracking can be a food safety tool, exploring the challenge of predicting where the next economic adulteration event will be, and having the capacity to build good relationships with regulators at all levels of government before incidents occur.

This time of change and greater food safety oversight poses challenges to the food industry but also creates opportunities for those who seek them. Whether you are directly involved in the food supply chain or in an associated industry, such as food testing, food tracking or assessing risk, the opportunity to make your company a leader and thereby enhance and protect your brand has never been so great. In a time when brands can sink overnight in the court of public opinion it has never been more important than right now to stay informed, stay ahead of the curve, identify and manage your risks and build a food safety culture in your industry like never before.

NOTE: This article was reprinted with permission from Food Chemical News. For more information about Food Chemical News, go to www.foodchemicalnews.com or call 1-888-732-7070.