Pet Food Processing - January 2025 - 11

If the federal government were to prosecute all of
these recalls as federal crimes, 233 brand leaders could
face jail time. As a food safety professional, I am very
concerned about this, as one day I might have to face
such challenges or sit in front of a prosecuting attorney.
Will you?
There's power in a plan
You may find yourself asking, " Why does this keep
happening? We have a great food safety plan. " But do
you really? In order to truly determine the strength of
your food safety program, ask yourself the following
questions:
* Do you have a qualified preventative control professional
that has a background in food safety, or
do you have a person that was promoted because at
one time they did a quality job?
* How much of your annual budget is spent on direct
food safety testing and food safety training? Is it the
right amount? How do you stack up against other
companies?
* Do you perform the right number of tests on your
product and at the right steps to know your product
is safe?
* Do you know what your worst non-food-safe day is?
* Have you identified your high-risk areas within the
facility?
These are just a few of many, many considerations, but
if you can't answer these to start, you could be at risk of going
to jail. Some good news: in fewer than two years, there
are 233 other manufacturers who may be joining you. They,
too, thought they had a robust food safety program.
From my experience as a food safety detective, troubleshooter,
and a 25-year sleuth of food safety concerns,
it is with the above questions and others where the food
safety program falls short. Generally, when a food safety
concern - especially pathogens - escapes the control
of the plant, it is not due to just one failure of the system
but many failures. Commonly, the amount of product
involved in a recall grows because either the facility cannot
demonstrate they knew about the problem or cannot
demonstrate when the last time they had a clean break.
Hope exists
All food manufacturing facilities have the potential (and
duty) to produce safe food products. Following these
simple steps can go a long way toward building a robust
food safety program:
1. Foster a food safety culture - make it a priority
every day.
2. Build a team of food safety professionals or retain
them. In most cases, food safety and quality teams
should have their own reporting structure.
www.petfoodprocessing.net | Jan-Feb 2025 | PET FOOD PROCESSING 11
3. Train all employees
and
visitors who may
come
in
contact with
food on proper food safety
measures.
4. Complete a comprehensive
risk assessment for food safety for
the types of foods you produce.
5. Find out what companies of perceived high quality
and food safety are spending on food safety interventions
and material testing. Work to match
that spend.
6. Build your food safety program around your
worst day of production, not your normal
day. Establish baselines for critical aspects of
your program to measure against day-to-day
operations.
7. Know what you don't know. In other words, test
your program with third-party eyes and conduct
real assessments.
8. Create a robust traceability and crisis management
program - and test them several times a year.
9. Continuously improve and critically reassess your
programs.
By keeping tabs on these considerations and others,
companies can avoid recalls and market withdrawals,
with the hope of never having to initiate your crisis
management plan in the first place.
PFP
August Konie is the principal of BSM Assurance, BSM
Partners' Food Safety, Quality Assurance, and Regulatory
service, and has been a food safety and quality professional
with various teams for more than 30 years.
No company wants to
have to initiate its crisis
management plan due
to a food safety emergency
- building a
robust food safety plan
can help keep your
company out of crisis.
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Pet Food Processing - January 2025

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