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What would you do if your farm's name was splashed across headlines nationwide in association with a food-borne illness outbreak? That's a scary question some specialty crop growers have had to answer.
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which was signed into law in 2011, was largely driven by food-borne illness outbreaks associated with produce. Some of the larger outbreaks had big impacts not just on farms and those who got sick, but also on produce markets.
Farms are sometimes wrongly blamed for outbreaks, or situations are more complicated than just pointing a finger to a single source. That was the case with a Florida farm earlier this year. Product shipped to a location in Kentucky was blamed on the death of a young boy, originally citing an allergic reaction to strawberry. That would have been a very rare event, and research turned up no documented cases of it occurring in the past. But after further investigation, it turned out the child died due to fentanyl exposure. His parents were eventually charged with manslaughter.
The farm in question has a good food-safety program in place, but it didn't protect the business from the agonizing experience of being caught up in such of an event. This scenario was the topic of a food-safety panel discussion at the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association (FFVA) annual convention in September. Out of respect to privacy, the farm will not be named here, but the advice shared from food-safety experts on the panel is something all specialty crop growers can benefit from knowing.
Christina Morton, FFVA director of communications, moderated the panel. Other participants included Martha Roberts, a pioneer in food safety and founder of Roberts and Associates; Morgan Madison, FFVA food safety and sustainability manager; and Kelly Vance, assistant director of the Food Safety Division of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS).
THE URGE TO FIND FAULT
The grower involved in the Kentucky incident quickly realized the farm needed help as the story made national news in a matter of a couple of days. The farm reached out to FFVA, which it is a member of, for help in responding to the issue. The panelists all agreed that a critical first step is to reach out...