“Hi, how’s it going”. This is a nicety, and most of us know it’s not truly a question. I feel like “we do a risk assessment” is a similar kind of knee-jerk, generally meaningless response to “what do you do when (potentially bad food safety thing) happens?”. And I’m getting sick of the irritated look people give me when I ask them to describe what goes into their risk assessment. Because today the ‘risk assessment’ seems to be the perfunctory bandage reaction to explain away why a firm felt...

Here is my fundamental thesis statement: it’s better to have less/fewer Listeria than more. How controversial can this be!? We will see at the FDA public meeting Aug 18 and 19. FDA has several key questions they are asking participants to opine on (note: comments are open until Nov 2) This is not a post about encouraging testing zone 1 food contact surfaces, or the stories we tell ourselves about swabbing after sanitation instead of during production. This is a post that challenges people...

Are you a member of the food industry, and especially the produce industry, who wants to have the latest scoop about outbreaks and recalls before anyone else? Sure. We all are. Why? Hopefully it’s so we can take action to protect consumers and protect our business. But I fear it’s sometimes driven by ego and the need to be the ‘insider’ that everyone goes to. This summer the rumor mill has done more harm than good. Here are a few examples: The Press release that never was: Whispers that...