How Companies Get Your Trust Back After Food Safety Concerns
Whether it’s E.coli in Chipotle or Listeria in Blue Bell ice cream, companies distributing contaminated products usually don’t go out of business. They clean up, fix the problems, and go away. If they’ve handled the outbreak well, their food should be safe, but we understand if you’re a little nervous.
Food safety cannot be guaranteed, whether there is a recent outbreak or not. Depending on how much you care about food safety at home, eating in restaurants and factories can be even safer. These manufacturers have requirements for checking the temperature of their refrigerators , for example, and the amount of time food is in the danger zone .
But when an epidemic hits a company, it’s obvious that something has gone wrong. It could be a bad batch of ingredients or an ongoing systemic problem in the way they run their business. In any case, it is the company’s responsibility to ensure that Listeria, Salmonella or E. coli does not end up on your plate. Understanding what happens after the outbreak can calm you down – or at least allow you to worry more consciously.
They will notify you – I hope
It will be better for the public if the offending company immediately closes stores or recalls goods. Fortunately, companies have begun to realize that it is in their best interest to act quickly as well. The FDA can force a recall (a force they acquired recently, in 2011), but it has only had to use that force twice . Usually, they say, companies voluntarily withdraw products.
Crisis management specialist Gene Grabowski, who worked with Blue Bell Creameries during their infamous ice cream listeria outbreak this year, told the International Business Times : “You don’t wait for the government to demand an answer because the government is not responsible for your life. … reputation “.
Blue Bell was not acting fast enough, he said. They recalled small batches of ice cream before “ripping [hitting] the patch,” shutting down all of their factories, and announcing a massive recall. FDA reports showed the company knew about the contamination years ago and didn’t do enough to address the problem.
Chipotle responded to the current E. coli outbreak by quickly closing 43 stores and responding to customer comments on social media. They could still have done better by noting that they should have updated their website earlier with information about the outbreak, according to anti-crisis communicator Aaron Quittken.
The FDA will publicly announce a recall if there is a major issue that people should be aware of. It also contains a complete list of reviews , which includes both noteworthy news and things like “undeclared peanuts” in the product. It’s a little confusing that they mix with reviews due to deadly bacteria, but for some people, the two have almost equal importance.
They look for a source, but may not be able to find it.
It’s good to know that the source of the flash has been detected. But this is not always possible: investigations take time, and sometimes the source of the infection has already been eaten and disappeared by the time the authorities or the company began to look for it.
Chipotle does not yet know what causes E. coli outbreaks. Symptoms of the disease appear after a week. The restaurant samples were free of E. coli , which makes sense: if the contaminated food were a batch of tomatoes, say, or a salad, that food would have been served and gone in a matter of days.
Even the most recent outbreak, which was announced this week , concerns cases that happened back in Thanksgiving. So when you hear about the deployment of an outbreak, remember that the information lags behind the actual spread of the disease.
If contaminated food has been stored for longer, or if a problem persists in the factory (not just one low-quality batch of ingredients), detective work is likely to pay off. The FDA put together this video to explain how they traced the 2009 Salmonella outbreak to its source in a peanut butter factory:
If they can find the source, the next step will be easier: companies try to fix the problem so that it doesn’t happen again.
They change their way of doing things
First, of course, they are all clean. Before Chipotle stores could reopen, they had to throw away all their food and sanitize every surface .
Blue Bell’s first job after the closure of the ice cream factory was intensive cleaning , followed by a plan to ensure that things never get dirty again. Their problem was not one bad batch, but the contamination of several factories over the years – the 2015 recall was preceded by problems in 2013 and possibly as early as 2010 .
Sometimes a complete change in the company’s philosophy may be required to fix a problem. Odwalla has built its juice business on the idea that juice is healthier and tastier when not pasteurized , and that there is no danger as long as the fruit is harvested and processed according to instructions – for example, by picking apples from a tree rather than using apples that have been dropped. to the ground. But in 1996, a shipment of apples was contaminated with E. coli , leading to an outbreak that killed the baby. The company changed its position and now pasteurizes its juices.
Foster farms have also changed significantly since the 2013 outbreak of multidrug-resistant Salmonella , which sickened hundreds. Tracking the source was challenging because salmonella is fairly common in poultry. This is the reason why we cook turkey at 165 degrees and never lick a spoon when making cookie dough.
It turned out that a flock in one of the poultry houses was constantly infected with the Salmonella strain involved in the outbreak, and that the usual processing steps of the chickens resulted in an increase in the number of bacteria.
Since then, Foster Farms has reduced the risk of contracting salmonella by doing things like vaccinating chickens against it, a practice common in some other countries but rare in the United States . The company lists its methods of dealing with Salmonella here and boasts that they have reduced Salmonella levels in cut chicken parts to 5% , below the USDA threshold of 15%.
Chipotle uses products from many small suppliers, which can make it difficult for them to ensure food safety by all suppliers . Their strategy to minimize future risk is smart: instead of changing suppliers, they are now chopping, disinfecting and DNA testing vegetables in central preparatory kitchens . This will reduce the risk of infection no matter where the vegetables come from.
They try to get back to normal
After the epidemic, companies try to reassure customers that the danger is over. Blue Bell is gradually returning to its former ice cream markets , repeating its original expansion in these areas. Chipotle’s plan includes full page ads and direct mail coupons to encourage shoppers to return to stores. Unfortunately, the delay in recognizing the outbreaks led to the announcement of multiple cases of the disease immediately after the changes were made to the company. We’ll have to wait a few more weeks to make sure the new treatments are preventing outbreaks.
Food can never be guaranteed to be safe, whether a recent outbreak has occurred or not. It is best to pay attention to the news if you want to know if the epidemic is over and what the company is doing to prevent another. And if you’re unsure, feel free to eat another brand of ice cream or make a burrito at home.
Vitals is a Lifehacker health and fitness blog. Follow us on Twitter here .