Eggs are a big hit at my house. In fact, my wife has declared poached eggs to be her favorite food (while good, I can’t imagine passing up pizza for a poached egg, but that’s just me). I assume that most families are similar to ours and eggs provide a quick, easy way to get some protein into any meal. I think this is core to the reason why the current egg recall is hitting a sensitive spot for many Americans.
More than 500 million eggs have been recalled in recent weeks. Nearly 2000 people report being sick from eggs thought to be carrying salmonella. The eggs are traced back to a pair of Iowa farms with common ownership. Like many food products the eggs were then marketed under multiple brand names and through various distribution networks.
Some troubling information about this event is that despite the first signs of contaminated eggs occurring in May, the recall was not conducted until August. The finger pointing between producers, government agencies, and consumers continues today. Based on this recall, recent peanut recalls and growing concern by Americans over food safety, I would guess we will see more strict federal legislation governing food safety soon. In fact, the timing would be perfect for the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act to pass the senate in September.
While many industries fight additional regulation, many major food brand owners have advocated for this type of legislation. A CNN Money article highlights some of the financial impact on brand owners when a recall occurs.
• Kellogg’s took a $34 million hit in their 2008 earnings as a result of the peanut recall.
• Overall peanut butter sales volume declined by 22% at the beginning of 2009
As with most legislation, the Food Safety Modernization Act is descriptive in terms of authority, but vague in terms of how companies would implement practices to support improved safety in the food supply chain. Here are a few pieces from the current legislation and my thoughts on how technology can be used to help enforce the process.
“require that each person (excluding farms and restaurants) who manufactures, processes, packs, distributes, receives, holds, or imports an article of food permit inspection of his or her records if the Secretary believes that there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to such food will cause serious adverse health consequences or death”
This bill pertains to the majority of the food value chain. Food chain participants must be able to create and store records related to the products they handle. Clearly, technology can assist with the capture and storage of this information.
“Requires each owner, operator, or agent in charge of a food facility to: (1) evaluate the hazards that could affect food; (2) identify and implement preventive controls; (3) monitor the performance of those controls; and (4) maintain records of such monitoring.”
Again, technology will play a critical role implementing preventative controls and monitoring the performance of the controls. Supply chain technology can help support best practices such as stock rotation (first-in-first-out, first-expired-first-out), lot/batch tracking, product labeling, and quality inspections.
Additional Resources:
Fisher Nuts improves traceability in manufacturing and warehousing operations with HighJump warehouse management (WMS)
Three Components of Product Traceability in the Food and Beverage Supply Chain
Mom’s Foods Case Study
More than 500 million eggs have been recalled in recent weeks. Nearly 2000 people report being sick from eggs thought to be carrying salmonella. The eggs are traced back to a pair of Iowa farms with common ownership. Like many food products the eggs were then marketed under multiple brand names and through various distribution networks.
Some troubling information about this event is that despite the first signs of contaminated eggs occurring in May, the recall was not conducted until August. The finger pointing between producers, government agencies, and consumers continues today. Based on this recall, recent peanut recalls and growing concern by Americans over food safety, I would guess we will see more strict federal legislation governing food safety soon. In fact, the timing would be perfect for the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act to pass the senate in September.
While many industries fight additional regulation, many major food brand owners have advocated for this type of legislation. A CNN Money article highlights some of the financial impact on brand owners when a recall occurs.
• Kellogg’s took a $34 million hit in their 2008 earnings as a result of the peanut recall.
• Overall peanut butter sales volume declined by 22% at the beginning of 2009
As with most legislation, the Food Safety Modernization Act is descriptive in terms of authority, but vague in terms of how companies would implement practices to support improved safety in the food supply chain. Here are a few pieces from the current legislation and my thoughts on how technology can be used to help enforce the process.
“require that each person (excluding farms and restaurants) who manufactures, processes, packs, distributes, receives, holds, or imports an article of food permit inspection of his or her records if the Secretary believes that there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to such food will cause serious adverse health consequences or death”
This bill pertains to the majority of the food value chain. Food chain participants must be able to create and store records related to the products they handle. Clearly, technology can assist with the capture and storage of this information.
“Requires each owner, operator, or agent in charge of a food facility to: (1) evaluate the hazards that could affect food; (2) identify and implement preventive controls; (3) monitor the performance of those controls; and (4) maintain records of such monitoring.”
Again, technology will play a critical role implementing preventative controls and monitoring the performance of the controls. Supply chain technology can help support best practices such as stock rotation (first-in-first-out, first-expired-first-out), lot/batch tracking, product labeling, and quality inspections.
Additional Resources:
Fisher Nuts improves traceability in manufacturing and warehousing operations with HighJump warehouse management (WMS)
Three Components of Product Traceability in the Food and Beverage Supply Chain
Mom’s Foods Case Study
This year’s conference features nine customer case study presentations, giving customers an opportunity to share the cool things they’re doing with their HighJump solutions. John B. Sanfilippo and Sons (JBSS), the makers of Fisher Nuts, presented this afternoon on how they use the HighJump WMS warehouse management system to manage its manufacturing operations and allergen and contamination prevention. 
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