I can’t believe that I’ve been blogging for Meatingplace for nearly 15 years.

When I authored my very first Meatingplace Blog on Aug. 4, 2010, Despite best efforts, pathogens and lawyers remain difficult to eliminate, I joined a very small and elite cadre of Meatingplace bloggers which included Dr. Richard Raymond (author of "Food (Safety) Fight", Dr. James Marsden (Safety Zone), and Chef Michael Formichella (Chef’s Table). While most of the original bloggers have moved on, Chef Formichella continues to grace our computers and tablets with great advice, colorful stories, and tantalizing tasty topics. And, wow, what a fascinating 15 years it has been.

During those 15 years, I myself was proud to author over 300 blogs for Meatingplace. The topics ranged from the lessons learned from the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box outbreak, plaintiff lawyers, food company exposure, and regulatory compliance. While Meatingplace remains the leading media and news outlet for the meat and poultry industries, subscribers also include a vast array of food professionals and regulators responsible for both FSIS- and FDA-regulated food products.

When we look at the past 15 years and, even more broadly, the past 30 years, there have been some pretty epic food safety milestones that the food industry has faced and overcome. Starting in 1993, Jack-in-the-Box (and, by extension, food safety attorney Bill Marler) stole the headlines as more than 600 people were sickened, and four children lost their lives.

In 1994, in a policy statement issued by Michael Taylor (who also happens to be a lawyer), FSIS declared E. coli O157:H7 to be an adulterant in raw ground beef. That single policy statement set in motion over three decades of unprecedented fast-moving food safety regulation, innovation, and progression. And, looking back on the last three decades, I remain astonished (as a food safety lawyer who has been practicing for 25 of those 30 years) by the incredible overall progress that industry has made.

Indeed, in 1999, FSIS mandated HACCP for the meat industry, moving away from the old-school organoleptic-based inspection system to a system grounded more in science. The thought was that, if the meat industry could develop and implement HACCP to control for microbiological and other hazards, the overall safety of the meat supply could be improved.

Following the implementation of the HACCP mandate, the beef industry struggled at first to “get ahead of” E. coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef products. Eventually, through the combination of a heightened level of care in slaughter facilities (sorry, but they were called “slaughter facilities” back then), better dressing procedures, improved lotting, N-60 testing of trim combos destined for ground beef fabrication, and additional verification testing by FSIS, the beef industry ultimately found success. Although there were far more E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks between the years 2000 and 2010, during the course of the next decade, the occurrence of E. coli contamination in ground beef products dropped to record lows. Indeed, industry found success.

Meanwhile, on the FDA side of things, the agency unveiled the Reportable Food Registry in 2007, requiring mandatory 24-hour online reporting if any company learned about a food product in commerce which, if used or consumed, could lead to adverse health consequences or death. Indeed, today, FSIS also has similar expectations with respect to potentially adulterated products and agency-reporting.

In 2011, Congress passed, and President Obama signed, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). In the years that followed, FDA worked tirelessly to craft and publish the draft and then final regulations that would ultimately become law. In essence, after observing the success of HACCP in the meat and poultry industries, FDA wanted to introduce some of those same principles to FDA-regulated companies and foods. FSMA and the regulations which followed were thus born, requiring written food safety programs, hazard analyses, and preventive controls.

In 2017, as the meat industry was enjoying success overcoming the challenges posed by E. coli O157:H7 (and non-O157:H7 STECs) in ground and non-intact beef, we learned about the tragic departure of Dr. David Theno. Dr. Theno joined the Jack-in-the-Box team following its outbreak in 1993, pledged to do everything he could (in memory of the outbreak victims) to improve food safety generally, and ultimately delivered a lasting impact on the overall safety of the U.S. meat supply.

Today, on the heals and in memory of those successes, we continue to see more and more food safety advances from industry, and bold new regulatory initiatives from FSIS and FDA, which range from the proposal to declare Salmonella as an adulterant in certain poultry products to FDA’s new Traceability Rule for high-risk food ingredients and products.

So, where has the time gone? I’m not really sure, as it has been, without question, a whirlwind of 30 years. And, as we reflect on the past three decades, we should use the lessons learned to give us some perspective on what the future might still bring. Indeed, science will continue to advance, new regulations will continue to be proposed, and the food industry will continue to be challenged in ways we could never have predicted.

And, sure enough, 30 years from now, looking back on even more epic food safety successes, we will likely whisper to ourselves, once again…

“Oh, how time flies.”

Oh, how time flies

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