11/19/2007
While participating in a produce industry charity golf tournament, one of the players in my foursome hooked his tee shot like the bend in a banana. The ball got off with a good rip, but then curved from right to left, hit a tree branch and bounced into a small pond. What do you think came out of his mouth next? You guessed it. "I got it out there, but the wind took it away from me," he grumbled after tossing his club toward his bag.

When a self-imposed error is made so conspicuously, people often blame something or someone else for it; such was the case with the banana drive. The golfer shook his head in disgust, looked around at the others and deflected blame from himself.

Stepping outside the golf course and into the produce industry, who is blamed when an item is indicted in a foodborne illness? Often, it is the grower. But what about other segments of the industry? Fresh produce is handled by a great number of people along the chain, including the consumers who buy it. Anything can take place along the way.

People get sick somewhere every year by eating contaminated food. In fact, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, 76 million cases of foodborne disease occur each year in the United States alone. The CDC also estimates that 325,000 people are hospitalized annually and 5,000 deaths related to foodborne illness occur every year. The most common foodborne infections are Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli.

There are many scenarios in the produce industry that can lead to product contamination. Through a sophisticated trace-back process, product can be traced to its original source. In the recent past, foodborne illness outbreaks were linked to spinach, lettuce and tomatoes. These cases have been traced back to their sources and the problems corrected. But what about areas other than farms? Could contamination be happening in other links of the food chain as well?

When you go to a restaurant, what do you do first? Normally, you sit at a table or booth and peruse the menu. Then a beverage is delivered and eventually you place your meal order with the server. Finally, you sit back, relax and enjoy the company of the others at your table. Everything is great, right? Don't be too sure.

The next time you go into a restaurant, I highly recommend that you visit the restroom first to check out the sanitation conditions of the establishment before ordering and eating your meal. Give it the old once-, twice- and three-times-over inspection. If it passes your examination, the restaurant must have high cleanliness standards. If your restroom inspection does not make the grade -- and especially if it is a disaster -- take a moment and visualize what the kitchen conditions might be like. After that thought, you might give some thought to whether or not to stay.

What about grocery stores? Do you merely enter, grab hold of a shopping cart and just start putting food into it. Don't you consider the condition and cleanliness of the store? What about the cleanliness of the shopping carts?

During my many visits to supermarkets, I see some very nice produce departments that are clean, fresh and well stocked with well-executed displays. On the other hand, I also observe some that are the total opposite. During one recent visit to a supermarket, I was browsing the fresh-cut section of a produce department and I could not believe the number of fresh- cut products that were past the sell-by dates. Surprisingly, among them was baby salad spinach two days past the sell-by date and still on display rotting away. After all the problems the industry has had and the hard punches it took on contaminated spinach and salads, here was yet another possible food-safety crisis waiting to happen. Only this time it was not on the farm.

Grocery store produce departments need to be clean and must operate under strict scrutiny with an eye toward food safety. The product offered for sale to consumers has to be safe. Bruised fruit, wilted vegetables and slimy packages of fresh-cut products are asking for nothing but trouble. Consumers should never be exposed to these conditions. One incident could rock the entire food industry.

Other areas along the produce industry chain are also open to contamination exposure. Produce in packinghouses, trucks, warehouses and grocery store back rooms must be properly maintained. All these vital areas must be kept clean and organized.

Just like the restaurant restroom scene, what if each customer examined the back room of a produce department before doing his or her shopping? The first glimpse of a store's cleanliness and organization will capture -- or lose -- a customer's trust.

Food safety must be maintained at every level of our industry. We must all take responsibility for it.