If it seems like there are more food recalls lately, it’s because there are. We recently saw Boston Market hit the headlines when they recalled 86 tons of frozen meals due to a Class 1 contamination scare, and they aren’t alone. A new report from the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) found a 10 percent increase in food recalls between 2013 and 2018, and that contaminated food now affects around 1 in 6 Americans every year.
I work with food testing customers throughout the Americas region, including both North America and South America (check out the links for a run down on food safety in these continents). From food fraud and fake organic to contamination from residues such as mycotoxins and pesticides, it falls into my camp.
It would be fair to say that food safety challenges and adoption of food safety systems vary throughout the Americas region. But there are some common ground:
We are more conscientious about food than ever before and like many of you, I am a big believer that ‘you are what you eat’. As consumers, we need to know that our food is as described and that it is safe to eat.
Whether we’re talking food authenticity or food contamination, every organization involved in the food chain shares a responsibility for keeping us safe with good, high-quality food.
The government has the goal of setting and enforcing food safety standards. The public policy of every nation strives to promote a healthy agricultural sector and a healthy population.
We are seeing much more rigorous and more diverse testing of food products before they go to market.
So, what’s going wrong? It seems our food safety expectations are different to the reality! I got interviewed a few years ago by a news agency on the matter, This info is still valid!. See the 40 seconds clip below!
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