Tuesday, February 20, 2007

When GOOD Food Goes BAD

There's been a flurry of food contamination recently - raising the important question: how can consumers easily, and instantly, tell if the food they have is safe?

The answer is partly improved manufacturing practices, and partly better traceability. By allowing the consumer to instantly tell whether their food is part of a recall - and to more quickly gather data from suspected products - food manufacturers can increase customer confidence, hasten recalls, and limit the scope of any recall.

We are entering an era analogous to the post-Tylenol scare; when tamper-evident packaging became de rigeur. Perhaps it is time for unit-level traceability to become expected - even demanded - by consumers?

The technology is available today to do it.