"Egg markets in turmoil after the recall" Headlines from Aug 31 Food Business News. The traceability issues strike again in your markets. Processors who don't take proactive steps now will be forced later to create and maintain traceability records that can be quickly retrieved and provide accurate information. Has the time finally arrived for the FDA to control the recall process? Please read below and don't trivialize the long term viability of your processing business by waiting for more Government regulations.
Current update: As of Sept. 13 ,Philadelphia Inquirer reported Senate has bill and a strong chance will be passed before November election recess.
We have published 21 articles on traceability the most recent
Issue 270 and we still see the ball being hit back and forth, Consumer VS Gov't. In our opinion the real issue here is not 'do we need a safer food chain' the obvious answer to that is 'yes'. The real issue is the recall procedure and how it is activated. Today recalls are "voluntary", please note remarks in blue below, that will change if the Senate passes the Food Safety Bill we spoke of in
Issue 258. If the FDA can demand a recall from a legal perspective your options are reduced and you could be negotiating for the life of your business.
As reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer Thursday September 9, 2010:
PennPIRG urges Senate pass bill to strengthen FDA
A coalition of consumer groups says that a steady stream of food recalls - including last month's pullback of more than half a billion eggs by two Iowa producers - shows how urgent it is for Congress to require regular inspections of production facilities and to give the Food and Drug Administration authority to order food recalls.
At a news conference Wednesday outside a Center City grocery, representatives of the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group (PennPIRG) displayed examples of hundreds of FDA-regulated products that have been recalled by more than 150 companies since July 30, 2009 - the date that the U.S. House passed the proposed Food Safety Enhancement Act.
Miller said the display was meant to illustrate the broad risks from lax controls on foodborne disease, which federal estimates say cause an annual toll of 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations, and 5,000 deaths.
"While meat and poultry inspection is done on a daily basis by USDA inspectors assigned to plants, the FDA has no mandatory inspection frequency for eggs, processed foods, seafoods, or dairy products," she said. DeWaal said there was no evidence that the FDA had ever inspected the Iowa egg farms before the recent outbreak, linked so far to about 1,470 illnesses.
Hitchcock said it was crucial to give the FDA authority to order food recalls because of the long delays that are common when regulators and companies have to negotiate terms of a voluntary recall. She said the egg recall was delayed more than two months after the salmonella outbreak was identified.
"While they're doing that," Hitchcock said, "that food is being sold at the grocery, it's in our kitchens, and it's being fed to our kids."
