Stopping Untraceable Foodborne Illness: A Letter from 9 Leading Food Safety Groups

In our recent post outlining the widespread outbreak of E.coli originating from romaine lettuce, we noted that the FDA has been unable to identify how or where the contamination occured in the supply chain. Since mid-March, more than 200 people across 35 states have become ill – and at least three have died. This outbreak is only one of the two outbreaks linked to leafy greens in the past six months whose source of contamination remains inconclusive.

FDA and state officials have blamed erratic record-keeping, glitches with traceability labeling, and partial shipping information for investigations delays. But for a growing number of activists, such obstacles are poor excuses for illness and death. Detailing their demands in a 6-page letter dated May 24, nine leading consumer groups* have urged FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to propose new food safety requirements over the next six months.

Fault Lines in the High-Risk Traceability Process

At first sign of an outbreak related to produce, public health investigators are required by law to investigate and discover the sources of contamination, and where it occurred in the supply chain. Unfortunately, due to inadequate funding and staffing, the FDA is hampered by an out-of-date traceability process. Established under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, current federal regulations require minimal record-keeping by businesses involved in the food supply chain. Therefore, the framework of the system is shaky, since efforts to trace contamination require dependable, detailed documentation. Otherwise, investigations will continue running into dead ends.

As reported by Consumers Union, the FDA spent months in a high-profile investigation tracing the source of foodborne illness back to tomatoes, only to discover that it was related to peppers. Like leafy greens, tomatoes and peppers are often eaten raw, which should qualify them as a “high-risk” food. According to section 204 of the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), tomatoes and peppers simply require enhanced record-keeping. Years later, however, the FDA has yet to implement Congress’ mandate to create a list of high-risk foods, let alone issue improved record-keeping protocols.

An Ultimatum to the FDA

The very fact that the current E. coli crisis is still unresolved is what led consumer groups to take a stand to demand implementation of overdue provisions within the FSMA. In short, their letter insists that the FDA establish record-keeping requirements for a swift, widespread traceability and recall process regarding all high-risk produce, in particular leafy greens.

Moreover, the groups are pushing the FDA to improve communications with the produce industry to make sure leafy green producers meet full FSMA compliance with current regulations and to encourage voluntary adoption of measures to enhance traceability:

“Current technology makes it possible for retailers to track and trace products with extraordinary speed and accuracy. Retailers using advanced technology, such as blockchain, now report they can identify the origin of certain produce shipments in as little as 2.2 seconds. Given these advances, it is no longer acceptable that the FDA has no means to swiftly determine where a bag of lettuce was grown or packaged.”

More specifically, the letter recommends that the FDA:

1. Nominate a list of high-risk foods that includes leafy greens
2. Outline rules for enhanced record-keeping requirements for designated high-risk foods to improve the agency’s ability to quickly trace the source
3. Provide advice to the leafy greens industry on existing requirements and best practices to enhance traceability, based on lessons learned from recent investigations
4. Advise each member of the food supply chain, including growers, processors, distributors, and point-of-sale vendors, to develop, document, and exercise a product tracing plan to track each product as it moves through the supply chain
5. Specify the formats for record-keeping (e.g., electronic, searchable) that are the most useful during a trace-back investigation

Can Romaine Lettuce Rebound?

What deeply worries the food industry is that the reputation of leafy greens – typically a staple of American kitchens – has been irreparably tarnished. In a recent brief, Food Dive reports that sales of ALL lettuces have plummeted 27% from last year (romaine is down 45%). Producers have lost thousands of dollars in crops that were destroyed or left to rot in the field. Restaurants and retailers are suffering as well: without a producer named responsible by the FDA, they have to cover the costs related to potentially damaged product.

Both retailers and growers are unsure when (or if) sales of leafy greens will return to pre-outbreak levels. According to reports from the USDA, sales were well below normal for 68 weeks after the 2006 spinach outbreak. If the same trend occurs for lettuce, then the next year will be tough for the industry, and will perhaps spur voluntary regulation protocols as suggested by the signers of the FDA letter.

Recent developments are pointing in that direction. Last week, members of the Arizona and California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreements, the Produce Marketing Association, United Fresh Produce Association, and Western Growers announced the formation of a Leafy Greens Food Safety Task Force to help assess these situations and address problems. In a press release, they explained, "like many of you, we have questions about how romaine lettuce came to be the source of this recent outbreak. As families, farmers, and scientists who grow the food served at your tables and our own, we need to make sure that leafy greens are safe."

If the FDA takes demands of the letter seriously and these stakeholders make a concerted effort at preventative maintenance, maybe there won’t be a “next time” for untraceable outbreaks of foodborne illness related to high-risk produce.

* The groups included Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Food & Water Watch, National Consumers League, The Pew Charitable Trusts, STOP Foodborne Illness, and Trust for America’s Health.

Subscribe to Connected Insights!

Subscribe to our Connected Insights blog to get weekly emailed updates about food service industry quality and safety issues.