Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

So … while this phrase was a clever adage in middle school, it has no bearing or relevance in the real world. Indeed, in the real world, in which we as food safety professionals live and work, words can and do hurt both people and companies.

When it comes to solving emerging foodborne illness outbreaks, public health and regulatory agencies play a critical and important role. But, it seems, in the work of solving and addressing public health threats, there is often competition among agencies seeking to be the first to announce that an outbreak has been solved, and the original source determined. Indeed, it’s the first car to cross the finish line at the Daytona 500 that gets all the praise.

But, sometimes, the rush by government officials to announce that the cause of an outbreak has been determined, and that the source of the outbreak has been solved, can lead to severe harm to food companies and, by extension, the industry as a whole.

Over my 25-year career, I have witnessed multiple instances where public health departments and regulatory agencies, eager to have their names highlighted in the media, have announced that an outbreak was solved and the source determined, when their conclusions were mistaken. And, in the worst and most egregious cases, they would subsequently assign less weight to (or, even worse, simply ignore) exculpatory evidence in an effort to mask the original mistaken conclusions.

So, while it is important to ensure that the public health is being protected, it is also important to not react too quickly when the source of an outbreak is being investigated. Through hard and diligent work, and a willingness from all key stakeholders to not only continuously question themselves and their hypotheses, but to also admit when they are wrong, we can hope for the best result.

If we can fully embrace transparency when working to solve outbreaks, then offending products can be removed from the market, and the real causes can be found.

Sticks and stones...

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