BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

Each week, Bulletproof Blog™ features exclusive interviews with thought leaders on issues of critical importance to companies and countries. This week, with recent recalls of deli meats, lettuce, and ground beef keeping food safety issues top of mind for the U.S. consumer, we interview David Sterling and Jane Griffith, two of the nation’s foremost experts on food and beverage supply chains and their impact on the integrity of the food we eat.

David Sterling, a partner with Sterling Solutions, has more than 25 years experience in finance and supply chain management from both a consulting and industry perspective. Jane Griffith, the Director of Quality Assurance and Food Safety for Wawa, Inc., leads a team that is responsible for food safety and product quality throughout the supply chain – from vendor selection, certification and management to execution of foodservice programs at the store level.

Mr. Sterling and Ms. Griffith shared their insights with Bulletproof™:

Last year, an American Society for Quality study found that more Americans are worried about food safety than the War on Terror. What’s driving this level of anxiety? How can food and beverage companies best calm the fear?

David Sterling and Jane Griffith: One of the primary reasons for increased consumer concern over food safety is the recent uptick in recalls in the U.S.  These recalls have impacted many different product categories and illustrate the scope of the food network. Most important, they have demonstrated how one ingredient can compromise the safety of many products and food processors. In addition, the increase in consumer awareness on food safety issues stems from the number of product lots affected during each recall, which raises consumers’ worries that their families may have eaten contaminated food, believing it was wholesome. Finally, the media attention to this subject, both on the national news and in the movie theatres (with the release of Food, Inc., Fast Food Nation, and Supersize Me), has dramatically impacted consumer perceptions of the food industry.

While the War on Terror is a major concern to all of us, many Americans are not directly impacted by it. Meanwhile, food directly impacts every American each day. As public awareness of food safety issues has increased, the potential that it can personally impact anyone of us at almost any time is a reality that consumers understand. In addition, at one time or another, almost all consumers have experienced purchasing food that, at a minimum, had compromised quality issues due to poor handling. The enormous scale and reach of the food chain in the U.S., coupled with the fact that most consumers possess at least at some level of understanding regarding food safety risks, creates a setting in which consumer concern can grow.

Ensuring safe food is a complex, intense, holistic process that touches all aspects of production – from raw ingredient growing practices and harvesting to processing, packaging and shipping. The food ingredient can be compromised at any stage along the food chain and this can lead to a recall. At the same time, most consumers are unaware of the processes that industry has implemented to ensure safe food via continuous oversight and monitoring of the food system from farm to fork.

In what specific ways are food and beverage companies changing their practices to reflect the public’s concern over food safety? How would you recommend that the industry publicize those measures?

David Sterling and Jane Griffith: The food industry, and especially retailers and Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs), are facing a loss of consumer trust by providing education on their practices to ensure food quality and safety. These may be posters in the establishment committing the retailer to providing safe food or a news story in a local paper. This is a very sensitive issue and some companies are reluctant to claim that they are providing safe food 100 percent of the time because they understand that nothing is certain and they don’t want to mislead consumers and further erode their trust.

The food industry and trade organizations are partnering with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to improve recall response and attention to food safety issues. Our foremost goal is reducing the time between discovery of a safety issue and communication of that issue to the public. Most important, we want to ensure that the product or ingredient being recalled is truly the source of an outbreak. We saw numerous examples of a poor recalls with the tomato, lettuce, and jalapeño pepper recalls of 2007. During those recalls, the FDA was not able to determine the true source of the outbreak and recalled several different commodities throughout a period of weeks. That caused an unnecessary economic impact to the food producers, suppliers, and the food industry as a whole. It also created consumer distrust because they lost confidence in government and industry and felt that we didn’t want to tell the consumer where the true problem really was.
               
Other initiatives underway within the food industry include an increased emphasis on the cold chain, or the distribution and logistics associated with getting perishable products on the shelves.  Improvements in technology are enabling companies to monitor product temperatures throughout the cold chain. In addition, advances in nanotechnology will allow food pathogens to be detected as the product moves through the cold chain. Finally, improved cold chain processes that will work with advancing technology are currently being developed. At the same time, training, education, and operational improvements are areas of focus to improve distribution processes not impacted by improved technology.

What issues are emerging on the horizon that all food and beverage companies need to know about?

David Sterling and Jane Griffith: One of next emerging issues associated with food safety is the traceability of a product from the source to the retailer. This level of detail will help to provide comfort to customers concerned about the origin of a product. It will also help with narrowing down recalls so that only impacted products are removed from sale and not the entire commodity or lot code.

Another emerging issue is the increased emphasis on food distributors and logistics providers.  Standards have long been targeted for harvesters, suppliers, and, more recently, retailers. The development of standards for food logistics providers is on the horizon. By ensuring that these food chain participants are held to appropriate standards, best practices will be in place for almost all of the participants within the food chain.

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Larry Smith is Senior Vice President of Levick Strategic Communications, the nation's top crisis communications firm, and a contributing author to Bulletproof Blog. Connect with Levick on Twitter: @Levick.