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CEO of Global Food Protection Institute to Highlight Importance of Worldwide Food Safety Training in Beijing Dr. Bradsher to Present at the China International Food Safety and Quality Conference + Expo
BATTLE CREEK, Mich., October 17, 2011 – Dr. Julia Bradsher, President and CEO of the Global...
INTERNATIONAL FOOD PROTECTION TRAINING INSTITUTE DELIVERS FOOD SAFETY TRAINING FOR REGULATORS IN THE STATE OF GEORGIA
BATTLE CREEK, Mich., October 16, 2011 - The International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI), today announced two deliveries of “Application of the Basics of Inspection and...
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The Sleeping Giant Has Awakened: Reflections on Attending Food Safety Conference in China
by Julia Bradsher
Legend has it that Napoleon Bonaparte once said, when pointing to China on a map, “There, is a sleeping giant. Let him sleep! If he awakes, he will shake the world." I doubt there is a person reading this today that doesn’t know that China has become a significant force in the global food supply.
It is nothing new to say that our food supply has become an increasingly global one. It is estimated that 20% of our food in the United States is imported. This percentage is much higher when you look at certain food products like seafood and fresh produce. China is one of the fastest growing sources of U.S. food imports. It has emerged as the third largest supplier of imported food into the United States after Canada and Mexico.
With the growth of China as an U.S. food source, American public scrutiny and media attention has also increasingly focused on food safety problems in China. Food safety is also a concern among Chinese citizens, as well. This past year alone, there has been plenty: Glow in the dark pork, anti-freeze vinegar, exploding watermelons. While the Chinese government is trying to get a handle on food safety problems in their country, it is creating challenges for them and, oftentimes, embarrassment. It is an understatement to say that China has become a food safety hot zone.
Back to the Future?
About 25 years ago, when I was a graduate student, I spent a summer as an exchange student at what was then the newly established Shantou University in the southern part of the Guangdong Province of China. The China I visited was only 10 years beyond the Mao era. All aspects of life were controlled by the State, and privatization was virtually unheard of. At that time, over sixty percent of the population engaged in agriculture. There were seven telephone lines coming into the city of Shantou at that time, with a population of 750,000. A car was rare with hundreds of bicycles on the streets, tractors unheard of on the farms, and most Chinese had never personally encountered Americans. I remember having a woman walk up to me and touch my curly hair in amazement. Needless to say, the China I experienced in 1986 was like stepping back into a pre-industrial revolution era. We were cautioned to never eat food from vendors on the streets, only drink boiled water or bottled water, and never eat fresh fruits and vegetables unless carefully washed with known “safe water”.
Now, fast-forward to November, 2011. As the president and CEO of the Global Food Protection Institute, I had the opportunity to travel to Beijing to do a presentation on the importance of food safety training at the Fifth Annual China International Food Safety and Quality Conference (CIFSQ). The China of today is the second largest economy in the world. It is the third leading foreign supplier of agricultural and seafood products to the U.S. after Canada and Mexico. Virtually everyone in Beijing has a cellular telephone and wireless internet access is everywhere. Shopping malls are part of the Beijing landscape with food courts that include McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Pizza Hut. Thousands of privately owned cars on the road have been added to the bicycles, motorcycles, and scooters. Pollution in the air is the norm in Beijing – the entire week I was in Beijing in November, there was thick smog in the air. And yet, we were cautioned by colleagues to never eat food from vendors on the streets, only drink bottled water, and ideally, eat at the hotel, US fast food chains, and restaurants on the main streets.
The Conference
The CIFSQ was held in Beijing on November 2-3, 2011. This was the fifth year for the conference, and it has developed a very strong attendance of over 750 people that cuts across the stakeholders of food safety in China: regulatory officials (Chinese and other countries), food safety and quality personnel from food companies, food science and safety laboratories, training and certification organizations, to name a few.
If I had to pinpoint themes in the conference, I would say there are probably three to four. First, almost every keynote speech and breakout session carried a theme of collaboration and cooperation. In order for China to address its own domestic food safety issues, as well as the concerns of countries who import there food like the United States, collaboration, cooperation, and transparency will be needed. It was very evident by the tone of the speeches by Chinese government officials that they have embraced and made a commitment to improving food safety in the country. The most critical challenge will be to push the food safety and quality policies, practices, and infrastructure down to the level of food production.
The second theme that carried through the conference is the need for uniform standards in food safety. While I am not fluent in Mandarin, I can’t help imagine that all those attending the conference that were not fluent in English must have been daunted by the alphabet soup of food safety systems, standards, audits, certifications, and schemes: FSSC, ISO, HACCP, BRC, GFSI, IFS, and PAS. Mind you, I am not mocking or minimizing the importance and critical value of these. Rather, I am calling out our responsibility when you take into consideration the first theme of collaboration and cooperation. It behooves those of us who are from the countries that are importing China’s food products and those multinational companies that are seeking to participate in the economic opportunities in present in China, to demystify food safety and help get things down to the basics.
The third theme that was apparent throughout the conference was the imperative for all governments in our global economy, regardless of where in the world, to demonstrate to their consuming public, their commitment to improving the safety of the food supply. This theme carried throughout many speakers who represented several countries – Mike Taylor and Dara Corrigan from the US FDA, Li Tairan and Fan Yongxiang from the China Ministry of Health. From the perspective of the United States, the focus was on the Food Safety Modernization Act and the role that new law will play in regulating food exports from China into the United States. In China, there is a renewed commitment from top government officials to improve food safety and hold food producers accountable. One of the speakers at the conference indicated that there are approximately 720,000 inspectors on the ground in China who are charged with inspections to ensure the safety of food produced in China.
Managing Expectations
My overall take-away from my first trip to China in 25 years is that there is great need in China and that there are many organizations, including my own, the Global Food Protection Institute, that can assist China in rising to the occasion. Given that “the sleeping giant” is awake, and he is shaking the world, we can assist them in making up for lost time. In the United States, we’ve had almost 100 years to develop the infrastructure we have to ensure food safety and we’re still not getting it right – case in point the most recent outbreak due to Listeria-contaminated cantaloupes. When FSMA became law, it was the first reform in food safety regulation in almost 75 years. Therefore, we have to set expectations for Chinese food producers if they are going to import food into the United States, and, at the same time, we have to manage our expectations that they are going to be ready and able to change their processes in rapid fashion.
Being Catalyst for Rapid Change
When I returned to the United States and sat down to debrief with the staff here at the Global Food Protection Institute, I asked the question, “How can we be catalyst for rapid change in China?” Our answer was easy – training through our International Food Protection Training Institute.
In China as in other parts of the world, technology has advanced so quickly that it has outpaced more traditional regulatory approaches. Training will be key to ensuring a foundation is built to support food safety in China. Training will also help everyone get on an equal footing and learn new approaches to regulation and inspection. The growing complexity of food production, processing, and distribution challenge the expertise of regulators and inspectors and training will help to address those challenges. Finally, with the increasing demand for safer food and the volume of newly hired inspectors, the underlying base of food safety knowledge and skills is limited. Training will help bring that base of knowledge and skills to a higher level.
Training is a critical element to ensuring that all elements of the food system in China are at a performance level that will ensure the highest level of food safety. That means that regulatory officials, inspectors, food safety and quality personnel from food producers and manufacturers, food scientist, food laboratories, third party auditors, all have adequate training using a standards-based training approach.
[Food Chemical News]Producers seldom hear of food-safety issues from their private auditors
By Michael Booth and Jennifer Brown
The Denver Post
Many of the most notorious food-illness outbreaks in recent years were preceded by glowing private safety audits of the producers, prompting calls for oversight of auditors and forcing grocery chains to tighten screening of cantaloupes and other food.
An inspector hired by Jensen Farms gave the cantaloupe operation a "superior" safety rating the same month contaminated melons were sorted by an unsanitary potato machine and sent to stores. Probing the subsequent listeria outbreak that has killed 28, Food and Drug Administration inspectors found multiple problems, and experts say an auditor should have flagged the issues.
It was only the latest incident when a "third-party" audit — slammed as an inherent conflict of interest by safety experts — failed to note deadly mistakes in a food operation.
• Nine people died and thousands were sickened after a salmonella outbreak at Peanut Corporation of America in late 2008. Investigators found goods were shipped despite positive pathogen tests, as well as rodents, leaking roofs and extensive mold. An auditor before the outbreak gave the company the "superior" nod.
• FDA inspectors found filthy conditions, from overflowing manure to maggot infestations, at two Iowa farms where hundreds of millions of eggs were recalled last year. Court files show "Record of Achievement" audit certificates before the salmonella outbreaks.
• Earthbound Farm regularly got passing audits before an E. coli outbreak in greens was traced to the farm. The 2006 outbreak sickened hundreds and contributed to three deaths.
• In 2007, after an E. coli outbreak was traced to frozen beef patties from Topps Meat in New Jersey, federal inspectors found multiple problems. The company's vice president questioned "why and how personnel from his company, outside auditors or consultants failed to find these noncompliances," according to a 2007 USDA document.
• And in a 2007 salmonella outbreak linked to Veggie Booty snacks, a third-party audit swabbed the manufacturing plant for salmonella but found none. Federal inspectors later found the bacteria in snack seasoning.
Few government inspectors
Farms or buyers hire the auditors in the absence of enough federal or state inspectors to make rounds, a cobbled- together system critics call an obvious conflict that must now change.
But food experts trying to sort out new FDA powers under a 2011 act were disappointed to learn domestic audits aren't covered. And they fear congressional budget battles will severely underfund those efforts.
"It's a system that doesn't appreciate truth-telling, even when human lives are at stake," said Amanda Hitt, director of the Food Integrity Campaign at the Government Accountability Project in Washington, D.C.
Jensen got 96 points out of 100 in its audit.
Food producers buying allegedly independent audits is a major flaw in the U.S. food system, critics say.
"I cannot think of one private audit that I've ever seen in 20 years that said, 'These are bad things, fix them,' " said Bill Marler, a leading food-safety attorney who so far is representing 26 people injured or killed by the deadly cantaloupes. A private auditor is not going to list a farm's flaws, tell it to shut down, then say, "I finished my audit — can I have my $2,000?" he said.
The gap between private audits that come before an outbreak and the FDA reports that come after is stark, said Marler, who has represented poisoning victims for two decades.
"The question you would ask is, 'Are we talking about the same place?' " he said.
Even if an auditor makes strict recommendations to its client, follow-up corrections are not always mandated. One example of that comes from the 2006 E. coli outbreak traced to a Nebraska Beef plant in Omaha.
Federal inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found the plant had not followed cleanup recommendations by third-party auditors. Among problems cited by federal documents: caked fecal matter still clung to animal hides before slaughter.
"These audits are not a substitute for safety," said Fred Pritzker, a food- illness attorney in Minneapolis.
The Jensen auditor, PrimusLabs, used a form of review where one year's suggested changes are not checked until the next year's inspection, according to copies of the last two years' audits provided to The Denver Post. PrimusLabs president Bob Stovicek defends the Jen sen audit, conducted by a subcontractor.
Companies can pay for a higher level of audit, Stovicek said, where the review is not complete until the producer makes corrections and posts them online. That online file is checked by an audit oversight group and is available to the buyer.
Retailers debate fixes
Many food experts say grocery stores — not food suppliers — should be hiring the auditors.
Since the peanut salmonella outbreak in late 2008, retailers have debated improvements to the system. One hurdle is that farms and factories don't have time to deal with numerous inspector visits, said Gerald Wojtala, executive director of the International Food Protection Training Institute, based in Michigan.
A possible solution is to have the FDA credential private auditors meeting its standards. Then grocery store chains would rely on those auditors.
Wojtala, whose institute has a grant from the FDA to help train inspectors, said he expects the federal government to one day take those measures.
The FDA says, however, that while the 2011 Food Modernization Safety Act gave it more power over auditors handling imported foods, it has no new authority on domestic auditors. In the past, the auditing industry and distributors have strongly resisted tougher FDA powers.
The Food Marketing Institute, the trade association for grocery stores, has a subsidiary devoted entirely to food safety. The Safe Quality Food Institute trains private auditors to match the institute's quality standards. Farms and other food suppliers seek out the institute's rating, which makes them more attractive to grocery stores.
Jensen Farms would not have passed an audit from an institute-trained inspector, said Hilary Thesmar, vice president of food safety programs.
"They slipped through the system, unfortunately," Thesmar said.
Grocers are re-examining their supply systems in the wake of 28 deaths and cantaloupe's ruined reputation as a result of the Jensen Farms listeria.
Costco will require its cantaloupes to pass a "test and hold" program before they make it to the produce department, meaning a few sample cantaloupes per shipment will be swabbed for bacteria. The load won't ship until lab tests clear.
"That is greatly going to improve the overall food quality in the marketplace," said Craig Wilson, head of safety for the retailer.
Whole Foods is considering adding pathogen testing of food and water at farms, and demanding audits of more produce growers and handlers. The grocer already requires audits in foods with past problems, including sprouts and salad mixes, a spokeswoman said.
Costco uses just nine third-party auditors out of the 120 to 130 available, Wilson said. Every food item in Costco stores comes from a producer inspected by one of those nine auditors.
"The audits that are done are incredibly thorough," Wilson said.
Wilson is among those who would support an FDA certification program of all auditors inspecting food along the supply chain.
"The real key to this is audit-company responsibility," he said. "Are they going to step in and help sort out the problem?"
Other grocery store chains were less willing to answer questions about their use of private auditors. Walmart and Safeway officials said they were always looking for ways to improve food safety but wouldn't elaborate.
Colorado cantaloupe growers are considering banding together with state experts to create a certification system for their threatened crop. Such a system may cost more — either in farmer fees or the state finding more inspection money — but others note how much money is wasted on food-illness outbreaks.
Injury attorneys estimate the Colorado cantaloupe cases alone may result in more than $150 million in judgments or settlements against Jensen Farms, its deeper-pocket distributors and the auditors.
[The Denver Post]