CHICAGO National Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
And forcing those changes, the experts cautioned during an educational session on supply-chain management, is going to require a strong stomach, some field dirt on operators’ shoes, and pushback that ripples all the way down to how pickers handle their pets. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
“You have to push it back to the source,” said David Parsley, senior vice president of supply chain management for Applebee’s International. “You can’t just focus on the restaurant.” —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
He and his fellow panelists described field-level conditions that pose a dire threat to an industry that’s serving more and more fresh produce. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
Tom Chestnut of the safety organization NSF International even warned the audience to brace itself before showing several slides that depicted what he had encountered during a visit to Salinas, Calif., some three or four weeks earlier. Clearly visible in the close-ups of spinach growing in the fields were feces from animals raised by the farm hands. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
“You may notice that there are no trees in the pictures,” he said before pointing out mounds of green onions in the fields. The pickers’ dogs, he delicately explained, sometimes used piles of produce as if they were trees. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
Other grim travelogues were offered by other presenters, who stressed how important it is for buyers to get into the fields and see the conditions for themselves. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
“It’s not a lettuce issue, it’s not a California issue, it is a food safety issue,” said Jorge Hernandez, vice president of food safety and quality insurance for distribution giant U.S. Foodservice. “Do not rely on the government for the safety of your food.” —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
Instead, he and others stressed, push back. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
“Go into the field and ask questions,” Chestnut said. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
A single unit or small chain may not be able to wield the leverage of an Applebee’s, he said, but they “can sure ask their distributors the important questions.” That might in turn prompt the major distributors to check the practices of their suppliers, with the pressure cascading down to the farms. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
“In the fresh-cut industry, we have no kill step,” said Courtney Parker of the Fresh Express bagged-salad company, referring to the cooking stage that destroys most pathogens in meat. “So the best we can do is prevention.” —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
The key, Parsley suggested, is no longer viewing food safety as a discipline that extends from a distributor’s truck to a guest’s fork. The responsibility has to extend back to the field. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
“I’ve had a lot of [quality assurance] people say ‘supply chain’ is synonymous with ‘purchasing.’ That’s not true,” he said, noting that the overriding goal of supply-chain management at Applebee’s is food safety. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
Viewing the procurement process as a food safety matter can conflict with the usual mission of cutting costs as much as possible, the presenters acknowledged. But “this is not the time to be price-shopping,” Chestnut said. “This is the time to know your supplier.” —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
“Do not let price dictate the safety of your food,” Hernandez agreed. Otherwise, he said, the results could be disastrous for the industry. —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
“Product safety [concern] is not going to go away,” Hernandez said. “What we’re seeing today is just the tip of the iceberg. This is going to happen more and more and more.” —The foodservice industry will suffer more disasters like last year’s contaminations of spinach and lettuce unless restaurateurs and consumers ram through changes in the way produce is farmed, said a panel of food safety experts at the
