Meat&Poultry - July 2012 - 8

Commentary
BY BRYAN SALVAGE, EDITOR
bsalvage@sosland.com

‘Walking the walk’ in food safety
Over the years, I’ve heard many prominent industry executives insist while speaking at industry meetings and conventions that food safety should never be used as a marketing tool against competitors and that newly developed food-safety advances should be openly shared with all US meat companies. Not all companies openly discuss what they’re doing in food safety, but Wayzata, Minn.-based Cargill Inc. is one company that does. Mike Robach, Cargill vice president of corporate food safety and regulatory affairs, recently gave a presentation entitled, “Salmonella/ Campylobacter Interventions in 2nd Processing…A Case Study”, at the 2012 Poultry Processor Workshop held in Atlanta, Ga., which was sponsored by the US Poultry & Egg Association. Robach presented an overview of two ground turkey recalls Cargill conducted in August and September of last year, which were associated with an outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg. In early November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a total of 136 persons were infected with a multi-state outbreak strain of Salmonella Heidelberg reported from 34 states in recent months – and that this particular outbreak appeared to be over. Mike Martin, Cargill director of communications, told me at that time that approximately two-thirds of these illnesses were not linked to ground turkey. Nevertheless, the company recalled 36 million lbs. of ground turkey in AuWe would like to hear from you – to comment on this story or to request reprints, contact us by email at meatpoultry@sosland.com.

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gust. Cargill’s second ground turkey recall occurred in September and this time it was initiated by USDA. As a result, ground-turkey operations at Cargill’s Springdale, Ark. plant were suspended for a time as company food-safety experts combed through the facility to find the source of this problem – which they were unable to trace back to its origin. Last December, after USDA approved an enhanced food-safety plan, ground-turkey production resumed at Cargill’s meat processing facility in Springdale. All who were laid off have since returned to work for Cargill and the plant is fully staffed. As part of a multi-phase ramp-up of production at Springdale, one of four ground turkey production lines was first brought on line, with the others eventually following once foodsafety enhancements were validated. Cargill initiated a number of food-safety actions at its Springdale plant. Robach shared those steps with the workshop audience, which included competitors. “We cannot differentiate ourselves by having food safety used as a competitive advantage,” Robach iterated. Congratulations to Cargill for sharing the food-safety steps its Springdale facility took to rectify this situation. Here’s hoping other companies will take its lead and be more transparent and share with industry the foodsafety steps they have taken, as well. ■

Kimberlie Clyma
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