Having represented the food industry for nearly 25 years, I have watched thousands of companies make inadvertent mistakes that have landed them in trouble with the regulators and/or plaintiff lawyers. These mistakes are often repeated by food companies, not knowing or aware of the potential consequences which could result. Thus, I am hopeful that the following advice will help you identify any practices of your own company which could be refined or changed to decrease your overall food safety risk. These are the top ten mistakes which, in my opinion, can get companies in trouble:

1. Buying ingredients over the phone. To get the conversation going, I usually ask my food industry colleagues and clients whether they would ever buy a used car from a used car dealer over the phone. “Hell no,” they universally say. Why not? Because it would be stupid. So, too, is buying food ingredients to put into your finished products without getting to know, visiting, and being able to trust your suppliers.

2. Increasing production without increasing food safety support. I get it – when orders are coming in, and you’re trying to grow your brand and profits, increasing the amount of time and resources dedicated to increased production is often the answer. Unfortunately, in many companies, when production is increased, the resources dedicated to food safety support (such as increased and more intensive sanitation) are not. When this happens, a massive food safety gap begins to form, leading lines, equipment, and/or employees straight to failure.

3. Decreasing microbiological sampling. This one’s easy — don’t do it. In this business (and, in this regulatory-intensive day and age) food safety success is driven by increased sampling so that problems can be identified and eliminated.

4. Failing to conduct root source investigations. When pathogens are found in the environment, too many companies don’t take it seriously enough, and simply perform pro forma investigational sampling to ensure the area that tested positive tests negative in subsequent iterations. This is a bad strategy. Companies should support and engage in aggressive “Root Source” investigations, not only to solve the immediate problem, but to find its original source.

5. Not preparing for agency swab-a-thons. Whether you’re facing an FDA inspection or a USDA Food Safety Assessment, a swab-a-thon is likely in your future. Engage your food safety lawyers to help you conduct your own swab-a-thon under the attorney-client privilege, so you can see and the respond to what the agency would see long before they arrive.

6. Failing to properly select and train employees. Employees will only be as good as the level in which they care. Look for and select employees who, by all accounts, appear to be caring human beings. The results will pay for themselves.

7. Failing to see the forest through the trees. Bad days will happen. If you need to destroy or recall product, do it, own it, and move on. The bigger picture (and customer trust) is more important than a single day of production.

8. Failing to change the way we speak. On occasion, you will find Listeria and/or Salmonella in the environment. Despite what you were taught, it should not be there. Treat any positive finding as a five-alarm fire, verbally express significant concern, and deploy extreme resources to identify and eliminate the source. If not, FDA will find it and, if they find it more than once, you may be in Warning Letter territory.

9. Thinking you have a great food safety culture when you don’t. This one is obvious. Too many companies say they have a good food safety culture when the reality in the organization is the opposite. Just think of this quote from a fictional (or, maybe not) CEO: “I don’t always think about food safety. But when I do, it’s because FDA or USDA are shutting me down.”

10. When faced with a difficult challenge, not asking yourself “what would 12 jurors think?” This is a great tool to resolve sticky food safety challenges. If you ask yourself this question, I promise you will always find the right answer.

I am hopeful that you will find this additional perspective, teased from decades of observations, helpful. Each day, we should strive to learn from the last — and share our own successes and failures with others. Together, maybe we can make this “top ten” list disappear.

Top Ten Mistakes Companies Make That Get Them in Trouble

Join for free* to continue reading.