Is FSMA Making Produce Safer?

By Melissa Lind, contributing writer

Regarding the latest spinach recall, no illnesses have been reported, but consumers may be left wondering if produce is becoming safer. Despite greater consumer awareness of recalls — and food-safety events in general — increased awareness may actually be part of the cause for alarm.

The recent spinach recall due to possible listeria contamination is just one of the listeria-related events affecting the food industry. The recall of frozen organic spinach has affected multiple, large retailers and several major brands of packaged spinach and prepared foods with spinach originating from the same plant. This latest produce recall has affected every region of the U.S. and Canada and brings to mind a number of spinach recalls reaching back to the 2006 spinach recall for E. coli which caused at least 276 illnesses in 26 states and included three deaths.

The 2006 spinach contamination, which originated on a single farm, was ultimately determined to originate from animal fecal contamination. This event prompted growers of leafy green produce in the State of California to begin following voluntary safety guidelines. Since that time period, events such as this prompted the development of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

In the recent event, packaged food manufacturers were able to notify the FDA and trace food products quickly. However, some have expressed concern about the length of time between purchase and notification. One manufacturer reported that the affected spinach was purchased four months before they were notified of contamination and no explanation for the delay has been issued. Still, though these events may seem to be more common, increased and internal pathogen testing makes identification more efficient and, consequently, a recall more easily executed.

The food industry, and the produce sector in particular, has come a long way regarding safety since that 2006 event. At that time, the food industry discovered that there was a lot of information missing about the food products in the supply chain and clear traceability was lacking. However, just because a product can’t be traced doesn’t equate to a food-safety event, but it can make them much more difficult to handle. If processors and handlers don’t know where the affected food product came from or its destination, responding to an event can be near impossible and any delay in time means the product is still available to potentially make consumers ill.

FSMA will help improve hygiene, testing, tracking and documentation, and is shifting the food industry from a stance of reaction to food-safety events to one of preventing them. The new legislation is helping supply chain visibility become more transparent, which means in the event of a contaminated food product, actions can be taken quickly and efficiently and appropriate parties and agencies can be notified seamlessly. These changes provide opportunity for improved safety, but actual improvement in food safety requires compliance. The FDA has not yet received all the funding it projects will be needed for implementation, making complete compliance enforcement a very challenging task ahead.