Food Safety is an Issue of Ever Increasing Awareness & Importance
Food safety has become a significant issue for consumers, regulators and food processors. Since 2006 North America has been faced with an increasing number of food safety recall issues ranging from E.coli in ground beef, to tainted produce such as spinach and carrots, to Salmonella in tomatoes, to Botulism in carrot juice. Several recent E.coli outbreaks have lead to massive product recalls and even some company bankruptcies. All of these factors have served as a major wake-up call to significantly increase the precautionary measures taken to ensure food safety.
Regulators such as the USDA are increasing their vigilance regarding food safety. In response to 53 major product recalls in the U.S. in 2007 for E.coli, Salmonella and Listeria in beef/poultry/produce, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) is focusing on E.coli contamination by proposing several new testing procedures and protocols for meat products. This includes increasing the number of tests performed, increasing the frequency of tests conducted, potentially holding back meat shipments until test results are known and stepping up audits of imported beef shipments.
According to a survey conducted for the Food Marketing Institute, in 2007 only 66 percent of consumers in the United States were confident that the food they buy is safe, down from 82 percent in 2006.