August 2010 is quickly turning out to be quite a month for consumer safety concerns regarding the overall safety and quality of U.S. food-related supply chains. Governmental agencies are under the gun to step-up inspection and enforcement and are seeking more jurisdictional power as a litany of urgent alerts permeates news and social media sites.

A lot of attention and commentary have been directed at the massive recall of eggs that was announced on August 13, and now that incident involves over 380 million recalled eggs.  The U.S. FDA reports an ongoing four-fold increase in the occurrence of Salmonella Entertidus that led-up to this recall incident. In our commentary on Supply Chain Matters we questioned why an egg enterprise or agri-business with such a wide distribution of product and private brand volume could experience this type of occurrence without a rigorous quality and inspection program. Former U.S. secretary of labor and University of California Professor Robert Reich penned a scathing litany featured on both The Huffington Post and his own web site, concerning the history of violations involving Jack DeCoster, owner of various nationwide egg farms including the involved Iowa farms.

Adding more to consumer concerns, this week, consumers were alerted to an FDA Class 1 recall involving 380,000 pounds of deli meat products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.  Zemco Industries of Buffalo New York is voluntarily recalling product which was distributed to nationwide Wal-Mart stores, as well as delicatessens, where they were processed into sandwiches. The products in question were produced on various dates from June 18 to July 2, 2010.  The problem was discovered in a retail sample collected by the State of Georgia that tested positive for a strain of listeria. To date, the USDA has received no reports of human illnesses.  According to a Wal-Mart press release, upon learning of the recall by Zemco, all Wal-Mart stores were instructed to remove select Marketside Grab and Go deli sandwiches from store shelves.

The FDA also issued an urgent nationwide recall of frozen mamey fruit pulp sold under the La Nuestra and Goya Foods brands because of an epidemiologic link between an ongoing outbreak of Salmonella Typhi infections and these products. The U.S. CDC reports that at least 9 people in California and Nevada are ill with typhoid fever caused by Salmonella Typhi.  Consumers who have these products in their homes are being urged to discard them immediately and further inquire as to what brand of mamey products are being used in drinks processed at juice stands and retail stores.

A select batch of pistachios and pistachio kernel products that were distributed by California Delights Inc. have been voluntarily recalled due to fears of salmonella contamination.  The products were shipped to two other distributors, Austinuts Wholesale Inc. and Glory Bee Foods, Inc. , and were re-packaged and sold to stores and bakeries within the states of Oregon, Texas and Washington.  Austinuts received two shipments of suspected product that were re-packaged as pistachio kernals, deluxe nut mix, and gourmet nut mix.  GloryBee Foods recalled its Patty brand 5 pound bags of whole raw pistachios, and 25 pound boxes of Special Commodities brand whole raw pistachio kernals.  Keep in mind that a previous nationwide recall of pistachios over a year ago impacted over 80 products and multiple brand names.

August may well turn out to be a watershed month in triggering concerns about the breakdown in quality processes involving global based food supply.  Many have noted and recognized, including the current head of the FDA, that the U.S. government has limited resources to monitor and inspect global-related flows of food products.  My belief is that the overall zeal of supply chain cost reduction efforts across many industries, including those dealing with most sensitive of products, is taking a visible toll in the breakdown of quality and conformance. I’ll be commenting more on this trend in upcoming writings.

In the meantime, the consumer goods and food industry has to self-police itself or risk more daunting regulation and control, as consumers reel from a litany of disturbing events.

Bob Ferrari

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) are investigating Salmonella contamination in pistachio products sold by Setton Pistachio Inc. of Terra Bella, California, and it is likely that this recall will impact many other food-related supply chains.  Similar to what we observed in the recent recall incident of peanut butter and paste,  in which salmonella contamination was traced to a Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) plant in Georgia, pistachios are also ingredients for other food products.  As the PCA incident unfolded, hundreds of products involving multiples of supply chains were impacted by this disruption. But this particular case seems to potentially involve both consumer direct as well as other food-related distribution.

According to the latest FDA advisory, the contamination may involve multiple strains of Salmonella, and it is not yet known whether these strains are linked to any specific outbreaks of salmonella sickness.  The FDA has warned all consumers to avoid eating pistachio products and to hold on to those products for potential testing.  The FDA first learned of the problem on March 24 when it was informed by Kraft Foods that its Back to Nature Trail Mix was found to be contaminated with salmonella, and the source was suspected to be pistachios from supplier Setton. Both Kraft and the Georgia Nut Company have taken proactive measures to recall their Back to Nature and Nantucket Blend trail mix products.

According to an AP news report, as well as reporting on cable news station MSNBC, the recalled pistachios represent a small fraction of the 60 million pounds that the Setton plant can produce each year.  Setton shipped 2000 pound bags of these nuts to 36 wholesalers, and it could take weeks to figure out how much within these shipments could be impacted.  “The firm is already turning around trucks in transit to bring those back to the facility,” stated an FDA official.

While the food industry continues to call for major joint government and industry initiatives in food safety, this latest incident is yet another reinforcement that a quality standard among food production facilities has deteriorated to unacceptable levels.

Similar to the advice I shared during the peanut butter contamination incident in early January, crisis what-if, and business continuity planning continue to be important tenets of an effective supply chain risk management plan.  Other consumer product companies utilizing pistachio products should focus upstream and act proactively.  Consumers and customers should be the first priority.

Supply Chain Matters will continue to monitor this latest major incident of product contamination involving food-related supply chains.

 Bob Ferrari