When CNN’s Lou Dobbs rails against an issue, he gets a lot
of attention. But awareness alone isn’t enough to solve our problems.
We need
action. So when I heard newsman Dobbs criticize the food industry
because of its
so-called mishandling of the recent contamination episode with jalapeño
peppers, I had to speak up. Especially when he and other analysts
condemned
food processors for fighting against country-of-origin labeling, which,
in the
analysts’ opinions, will help make our food supply
safer.
First, country-of-origin labeling is not the
same as
track-and-trace. Not by a long shot. COOL simply identifies the origin
of a
product. Track-and-trace provides a record of a product (and its
components) as
it moves through the supply chain.
Second, COOL
would only provide a small advantage in
speeding up a recall by narrowing the initial search. But it wouldn’t
help a
bit in pinpointing the source of a contamination unless you buy from
only one
company in that country.
Third, COOL gives consumers
almost useless information from
a food safety point of view. If contaminated product originated from
one farm
in Country X, you know consumers would stop buying any product from any
company
from Country X well beyond the timeframe of any potential
risk.
That all being said…We still need more action
than me just
spouting off. Face it: The food industry needs better track-and-trace
capability than is currently required by the Bioterrorism Act or COOL
regulation. Yes, it’s going to cost and, yes, it’s going to be hard to
pass
those costs on. But, it is going to save lives and, ultimately, will
help you
sell more product by improving consumers’ trust in their food
supply.
Plenty of electronic or automated solutions
exist, such as bar
coding, taggants (primary used for anti-counterfeiting) and even radio
frequency identification (RFID), which may see renewed
interest.
There’s been some talk, though, that the
government might
mandate the type of technology to use. OMG! Hurry, band together and
make it
clear that, while it’s OK for the government to dictate
what needs to
be done,
industry should control the
how to do it. It’s the only way you can
manage the
cost of implementation.
F&BP
