We’ve become accustomed to hearing the familiar warnings to use caution when preparing and cooking raw meats, fresh produce, and other foods commonly susceptible to contamination by foodborne pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli. But what about food safety with convenience foods, like frozen meals? The New York Times recently published an interesting piece on the issue of frozen food safety…or lack thereof.
Due to lack of attention to the trace-back, or tracking, of food ingredient supplies, food processors are having increasing trouble ensuring that the individual ingredients that go into frozen meals are all safe. Instead of developing a protocol to know their suppliers and to reduce the risk of using potentially contaminated ingredients, some food manufacturers shrug off responsibility and shift the burden of food safety to the consumer. Preparation instructions on food packaging may specify to cook foods to a certain internal temperature, or to use a conventional oven rather than a microwave oven. As New York Times experimenters discovered, these methods are not always practical or even possible.
Food safety worries increase exponentially during a recession, as food producers look for less expensive sources for ingredients. Until stronger regulations are in place – and enforced – to assure that every ingredient in a frozen dinner passes quality and food safety tests, we can expect continued foodborne illness outbreaks associated with these convenience foods. When single ingredient-based contamination occurs, tracing the source and containing the outbreak is especially difficult. As usual, not everyone is in favor of additional frozen food safety regulations, particularly requirements for ingredient trace-backs. The Grocery Manufacturers Association complained to the FDA that trace-back information is “not reasonably needed” and “often not practical or possible to provide.” Doesn’t the consumers’ basic right to safe food constitute “reasonable need”? And as for “practicality,” is it really too much to ask that each supplier along the food production line simply know where their products came from?
Bottom line: unless and until stronger trace-back regulations are passed and enforced, frozen foods may still pose a significant risk for foodborne illness.
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[...] A few changes were made before sending the bill along, including halving to $500 the proposed $1000 facility registration fee to FDA, as well as setting a $175 thousand cap on such fees paid by a single company. Other changes are being called for from all sides, including the American Meat Institute, whose recent letter to the committee expressed concerns about, among other issues, the feasibility of the bill’s proposed traceability requirements and the burden they may place on small businesses (we blogged about the necessity of food product and ingredient traceability here: Frozen Food Safety). [...]