Personal Injury Law

FSIS to Start Posting Plant Testing Data

By Kenneth Odza

I wrote earlier about Dr. David Goldman's talk at the ACI Food-Borne Illness Litigation conference and his comments regarding supermarkets. Another significant issue concerns posting by FSIS of microbiological testing results from meat and poultry plants on its Web site.

Food safety personnel from restaurant chains, supermarket chains and other sellers of meat products should consider monitoring this information. Tracking microbiological testing from plants where products are purchased may be useful to obtain advance notice of contamination. If the testing information is posted close to real time, food sellers may be able to get information more quickly than under the current system, which requires recall notice from the processer. Information translates into both cost savings and food safety. Advance notice of a problem may prevent or mitigate a recall, avoid customer illnesses, and allow for rapid substitution of product, minimizing business interruption.

Full post as published by Food Liability Law Blog on March 10, 2008 (boomark / email).