Common Cause
Wegmans opens its doors to produce safety science and the entire supply chain.
Many still see food safety issues in the abstract, as in "it won't happen to me." Yet one error on the part of one company, anywhere along the produce supply chain, can cripple consumer confidence and tank sales. When it comes to produce safety, we're all in this together.
Retailers, industry members from across the supply chain, academics, and government officials all gathered at the Wegmans Conference Center to advance a science- and risk-based approach to food safety, during the fourth annual Center for Produce Safety (CPS) Research Symposium, held at the end of June in Rochester, N.Y.
I caught up with Mary Ellen Burris, SVP of consumer affairs for Wegmans Food Markets, at this year's symposium, to talk about the grocer's perspective on produce safety:
Q: What do you see as today's biggest produce safety concern facing supermarket retailers?
A: The erosion of confidence in the foods we want people to eat more of for their better health.
Q: Why should retailers be engaged with CPS and help to advance scientific research?
A: Having an informed understanding of current research that's been translated into everyday language and best practices helps us hold our supply partners accountable and fosters consumer confidence of the whole produce category.
Q: Is there an example of CPS research directly translating into improved food safety practices at Wegmans?
A: One CPS research project in particular demonstrated the transfer of pathogens to cut surfaces, and that simple modifications to lettuce-coring knives can significantly reduce the risk of pathogen contamination. That project is a great example of the kind of practical, translatable research CPS prioritizes and funds.
Q: How does Wegmans work with supply partners to institute food safety programs?
A: We have a limited number of preferred supplier partners with whom we have deep relationships. We have a requirement for all growers, large and even small local growers, to be GAP (Good Agricultural Practices)-certified. There should be no exception for scale and size for growers to follow basic food safety practices in the field.
Q: Does setting exemplary food safety standards add to or relieve the pressure of food safety concerns?
A: We don't say we have all the answers. We can only talk about how we try to meet the challenges of providing safe food to consumers who want us to do more and more for them, such as ready-to-eat (triple-washed) salad and cut veggies, and making phone calls to people using our loyalty card, to inform them of their purchase of a recalled item.
Q: Wegmans was the first retail-sector contributor to CPS with a $250,000 donation in June 2011. What influenced the contribution?
A: CPS is working hard to identify and prioritize key food safety issues, reviewing proposals, streamlining research and reporting, and cross-fertilizing (pardon the pun) among researchers, retailers and producers. They also work on improving the transmission of research findings into action, such as through best practice guides.
Learn more about advances in produce safety and the top outcomes from the research presented at this year's CPS Research Symposium by visiting https://cps.ucdavis.edu/.
When it comes to produce safety, we're all in this together.