Romaine Lettuce E.Coli Outbreak in US Affirms Importance of Food Safety & Traceability

Two days before Thanksgiving, the Food and Drug Administration and the United States issued a multistate E. Coli outbreak in the U.S. linked to romaine lettuce was reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Because the government agencies had no idea where the dangerous food was being produced or sold lettuce was pulled from supermarket shelves. The only recommendation was to cease all sales and consumption of romaine lettuce, and to dispose of leaves and heads of romaine immediately.

The CDC did not know where the affected romaine was from and opted for a broad warning pull all romaine lettuce. Thus, all producers of romaine lettuce were punished as result of the outbreak which caused a lot of economic harm to romain producers whose product was not connected to the outbreak.

Importance of Traceability

This increased demand for more product information, especially when it comes to food safety, is no longer a “nice to have” but a “need to have. This recent event drives home how important traceability labeling is. The information has always been captured for traceback, but it wasn’t part of the consumer-facing package.

Romaine is expected in stores with new labels shortly. Government and industry officials say that new labels for romaine lettuce will help keep the public safe during events such as the current E. coli outbreak. The new labeling practices for growers are expected to be used from now and going forward, according to the FDA and produce groups.

Partner with the Leaders in Supply Chain Transparency: 1WorldSync + Food Logiq

1WorldSync believes in the power of transparency and enables businesses to exchange trusted product information for seamless supply chain enablement and compliance transparency. 1WorldSync works with customers who are committed to consumer transparency and want to provide their customers with safe, high-quality food.

1WorldSync’s trusted partner FoodLogiQ has created a software solution that allows food companies to efficiently capture all the data needed for a transparent and FSMA-compliant supply chain, and stitch together critical tracking events to achieve real farm-to-fork traceability to quickly identify and address food safety issues.

It’s going to be an uphill battle to win back consumer trust, however with 1WorldSync as your partner it’ll be easier!