THE FOOD SAFETY ISSUE UNDERSTANDING THE REAL PROBLEM

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THE FOOD SAFETY ISSUE - UNDERSTANDING THE REAL
PROBLEM

• Bruce T. Peterson Jr
• President
• Peterson Insights, Inc.

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FOOD SAFETY HAS BECOME THE 1 FOCUS ISSUE

• The Spinach crisis brought this to a head
• Surveys point to food safety as being the 1
  issue
• Many approaches have been initiated
• But does the industry grasp the REAL issue?

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TODAY'S DISCUSSION

• The importance of food safety
• The implementation of G.A.P.'s
• The REAL problem
• Next steps

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THE IMPORTANCE OF FOOD SAFETY

• Food safety has ALWAYS been a "top of mind" issue
• Food safety issues have ALWAYS had an impact in
  produce
• Alar issue in the late 80's, strawberries and
  cantaloupes in the 90's, and green onions and
  spinach in this decade
• Each of these outbreaks has had a serious
  financial impact on the industry as well as
  eroded consumer confidence

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HOW DOES THE INDUSTRY REACT?

• Typical approach is to focus on G.A.P.'s
• Efforts typically try to avoid government
  intervention
• Trade associations are helping to institute
  marketing orders in certain states
• PMA has set up a "Center for Food Safety"

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WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS HAVE IN COMMON?

• It focuses the food safety debate on production
  agriculture
• It causes food safety to become a potential
  marketing issue
• It creates the potential for non-legislated trade
  barriers
• IT DOESN'T SOLVE THE REAL PROBLEM!

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FOCUS ON PRODUCTION AGRICULTURE WILL NOT SOLVE
THE FOOD SAFETY PROBLEM

• Fresh fruits and vegetables are statistically
  among the safest, healthiest, and most
  nutritional things a person can eat! Problems are
  RARE and ISOLATED!
• But in an open production environment, you will
  NEVER be able to say that raw fruits and
  vegetables are SAFE to eat!
• While G.A.P.'s are ABSOLUTELY A GOOD THING TO
  WORK ON, all of the industry attention to this
  takes resources and focus away for the REAL
  PROBLEM!

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THE REAL PROBLEM

• The challenges concerning food safety in produce
  will not be solved with G.A.P's in production
  agriculture as THERE WILL BE ANOTHER FOOD SAFETY
  OUTBREAK!
• The REAL PROBLEM is lack of traceability, lack of
  effective communication, and lack of effective
  government response!

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FOOD SAFETY RECALLS ARE NOT RARE

• Food products are always being recalled for a
  wide variety of reasons
• Produce quality issues happen frequently
• Wrong UPC's, wrong code dates, and wrong labeling
  are relatively benign
• Serious recalls involving e-coli, salmonella, and
  listeria do happen
• Many times, major brands are involved
• Why don't these companies loose millions of
  dollars and destroy public trust?

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HOW FOOD SAFETY RECALLS TAKE PLACE

• Product in question is quickly IDENTIFIED
• Product in question is ISOLATED
• IMMEDIATE COMMUNICATION is done in concert with
  INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT
• "Crisis" is then stated as OVER and consumer
  confidence goes back to normal
• All of this happens QUICKLY - hours at best- a
  few days at worst

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WHAT CAN THE PRODUCE INDUSTRY LEARN?

• G.A.P.'s will NOT eliminate a food safety
  outbreak ( G.M.P's don't either!)
• Problem must be IDENTIFIED and ISOLATED
• Government agencies MUST be involved
• Communication must REASSURE the public that the
  remaining product is not involved
• All of this must happen QUICKLY!

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WHERE THE INDUSTRY NEEDS TO FOCUS

• G.A.P's are fine, but must NOT be state specific!
  (or country specific!)
• The industry needs to get serious about
  traceability in a big way!
• Industry needs to work with government agencies
  to get them on board (QUIETLY!)
• North America needs to harmonize both G.A.P.'s
  and traceability protocols
• Effective communication tools need to be in place
  to reassure the public

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SUMMARY

• Food safety is a major concern for all in the
  industry
• Poor handling of food safety outbreaks by both
  the industry and government erodes consumer
  confidence and costs the industry millions
• G.A.P's are an important component, but need to
  be harmonized so as not to become marketing
  issues
• Industry needs to focus on TRACEABILITY,
  COMMUNICATION, and helping government agencies
  ENGAGE EFFECTIVELY