Food Borne Illness is the Result of Economic Pressures to be Profitable.

This was originally written a couple years ago about a problem with a peanut butter manufacturing facility.  However, as recently as November 2011, we still have not learned our lessons completely.

After over 25 years managing food manufacturing facilities, touring food manufacturing facilities, studying good manufacturing practices and all the minutia associated with the production of safe food I can relay to you how something like  a widespread contamination of part of the American food supply happens.  It is simply the result of economic pressures and the need to be profitable.

Most people are naïve enough to think that food manufacturing facilities are like those seen on television with well groomed workers wearing white uniforms, hairnets, and sanitized footwear.  We are all led to believe that the training involved is extensive so each employee understands their importance in preventing food illness from occurring.  Unfortunately, proper food handling, state of the art equipment design, sanitation programs, and employee training are all very expensive.  Maintaining proper records of food lots, tracking distribution, and implementing recalls are also very expensive.    Food manufacturers are the lowest profit margin per sale item in the US economy.  A simple concept such as the amount of food waste a manufacturing facility generates can greatly affect a company’s bottom line.   Too many times I have seen managers try to invoke the “5 second rule” when a food item hits the floor only to be put back in line for packaging.

Understanding the costs may better explain why our nation is unable to avoid yearly food borne illness outbreaks headlining our news sources.  Whether it is Listeria in milk products, E.coli on produce, or salmonella in peanut butter it is all the result of economic roulette that is played every day in the food industry as underfunded food companies of all sizes and shapes use undertrained employees to produce the nation’s food.  Food companies are in business to make money and anything that pulls from the bottom line will cause prices to rise and consumers to complain.  Some foods are safer than others because of their acidity or water activity which are deterrents to bacterial growth, but even these foods are subject to contamination by foreign substances used within the manufacturing facility.   Dairy processors many times feel that their pasteurization process will eliminate the sins associated with food borne illness and bakers think the oven’s heat will kill everything that could make people sick.  History shows us there is so much more to safe food than that.   The larger a food production facility becomes the larger and more widespread and catastrophic the outbreak can become.  No wonder Homeland Security implemented some rules for food ingredient distributors, despite the rules’ paper veil of perceived security.

We have all come to want and expect low priced foods and we want them available around the clock.    Food manufacturers are under enormous pressure to produce such a food supply.  We read of China’s lack of food regulation in their dairy industry which caused the recent deaths of children and we shake our heads in disbelief and understanding that they must not have the resources needed to produce safe food while all the time the United States implies they have the resources that continually fail to prevent food illness outbreaks.    Regulation is fragmented between agencies at the federal and state level and private industry self regulation through such organizations as the American Institute of Baking (AIB), Food Marketing Institute (FMI), International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), and a host of others found in all food industry sectors still miss the mark to completely secure our food supply.

Would you be willing to spend 5% more on all your groceries to insure that all food companies could show at least 5% of revenue going toward food borne illness prevention and training?  We complain about the price of a gallon milk yet pay for water put in plastic bottles.  We want safe food produced by workers that have to be trained and constantly reminded on the importance on washing their hands after going to the bathroom. 

 Moving targets of regulation from almost every type of agency acronym- EPA, USDA, FDA, CDC- at the federal and state level push inspection and regulation to new levels of expense.  New programs and methodologies emerge after each unfortunate set of news headlines and hospitalized Americans.    I have a prediction that involves the “clean” and organic focused foods that do not benefit from the technologies of insecticides, bactericides, food animal vaccinations, preservatives, spoilage deterrents, and food additives.  As larger companies begin to build this part of the food industry into a more formidable force, someone will miss something in producing these types of foods that will result in the sickness or deaths of Americans committed to a safer food supply.  Ironically, the American consumer destined to provide their family with a safer supply of food will inadvertently contribute to food illness. Raw milk drinkers who expound the benefits of milk right from the udder may be the first to feel the bite of intestinal pathogens that are missed at the organic producer’s farm.   In the hunt for revenues and profits, everything is an expense and subject to being ignored or forgotten for the sake of the bottom line.

Ultimately, food borne illness is the result of someone not following a basic rule of prevention in the process involved from the food origin (such as the farmer or ingredient manufacturer) to the food production facility.    Testing for pathogens is not required by most food industry sectors, despite the availability of easy and fast testing methods.  After all, the test kits cost money and time costs money and if it is not required why should a company carry the burden of expense?  When the dust settles just ask the Peanut Corporation of America, Kelloggs, and the host of others involved in the recent recall what it would have cost them to test their product before it hits the food supply.  

Much like the way we learned in kindergarten we must start with the basics with all employees.  In my industry I always started with “Keep it clean, keep it cold, and keep it covered.”   We expanded from that point.  How we, as manufacturers, stay competitive while still maintaining a facility that makes safe food is a balancing act that is easily swayed by the pressures exerted by the economy.    The old rule in the food industry, which applies to most business, is that if you won’t supply what the customer wants at the price they want, someone else will.  Not the best business practice when shortcuts in food safety are what the competitor uses to keep costs lower.  It may not be a dangerous philosophy when applied to cell phone plans but it can be deadly when applied to food for our nation.