Food Processing - January 2008 - (Page 27)

It wasn’t just meat and meat-based pet food that put the fear into processors last year. Bagged spinach and salad recalls nearly devastated those markets. ConAgra early in the year took a $66 million hit for contaminated peanut butter, then near the end of the year recalled Banquet pot pies. Cheese, tortillas, smoked salmon dip, puffed veggie snacks … a veritable supermarket of recalled consumer food products proved processors had considerable trouble keeping bugs out of the food. This epidemic of food-safety failures pushed the issue to one of its highest showings as a top processor concern – more than 52 percent compared to 47 percent last year and 30 percent the year before. “Food safety has captured the attention of both the American public and lawmakers,” says Dexter Manning, national food and beverage industry leader for Grant Thornton LLP. “Unfortunately, the FDA’s budget has been slashed in recent years resulting in a reduced number of inspections at a time when we probably need them the most. “With elections coming this year, many fear food safety will take a back seat,” Manning adds. “On the bright side, the agreement with China is a first step toward improving the quality and www.foodprocessing.com safety of imported food and drug products. Under the terms of the agreement, the U.S. will have inspection access to certain Chinese manufacturing facilities for a limited number of products specified in the accord.” Get clean, stay clean “To keep the U.S. food supply safe, all individuals in the food chain, from the farmer to the consumer, must properly handle and process food,” states John Surak of the Milwaukee-based American Society for Quality (www.asq.org). His colleague, Janet Raddatz, tenders a note of optimism: “Our food supply is as safe as it has ever been. Emerging pathogens, mass transportation and a global supply chain will continue to challenge us, yet the food industry remains vigilant in providing consumers with a wide variety of safe, high-quality food products.” So, have our respondents made progress in this regard? Numbers are up only a couple percentage points above 2007’s already high numbers implementing employee training programs (89 percent for 2008; 87 percent in 2007) and HACCP plans (57 percent vs. 55 percent). Improved pest control, more/improved January 2008 food processing • 27 http://www.asq.org http://www.foodprocessing.com

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Food Processing - January 2008 Contents Editor's Plate NewsBites The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Product Spotlight Seventh Annual Manufacturing Trends Surbey Product Development Ingredients Plant Operations Plant Operations & Packaging New Supplier Products Toops Scoops

Food Processing - January 2008

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