A Blog for the Fresh-Cut Produce Community: Outbreaks and Economics

First off, apologies for the gap between last time we talked and now. United FreshTech came and went, and life happened for all of us, at the same time our industry is coping with another frustrating & financially damaging outbreak.

Consumer safety is important, but overall common sense and yes, economics must play a part. Condemning an entire industry segment or two (and yes, that's essentially what the FDA has done with their recommendations) for an unknown source of infection is not appropriate. The cost to the fresh-cut industry can be measured in the hundreds of millions, and the prevented harm is likely less than ten million; something like a 50:1 ratio. In my opinion, the economic impact of the FDA's actions is out of scale with the harm prevented. OK, the press probably has some culpability here, too, since dramatic headlines and highlights leave out most of the important detail the FDA has articulated. But the real source of the problem is within our own government's processes. http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html

Does our government routinely demand this same sacrifice from other industries besides food? Even if there are regulations requiring other industries (maybe like the auto industry) to outspend benefit 50:1, those industries have a much better chance to recover additional costs in the marketplace. Fresh-cut is perishable and won't hold until the research is done and analysis published.

While I'm picking on our own government's processes, do you know what the CDC's definition of an outbreak is? "Two or more cases of the same disease that share a common exposure". Although two people sick might seem like enough to classify it as an outbreak if one of them is me, generally, I think we should save our "outbreak" classification for much larger groups.

I do care about the health & well being of Americans, I just think our US system has become too sensitive and reactionary, and this is expensive for all in the end. I'd like to see some reasonable and proactive process improvements before the next outbreak. Let me know what you think.