Is Our Food Safe To Eat?

Recalls Test Consumer Trust

If the recently closed Boar’s Head facility were the only ground zero for a bacterial outbreak, consumers may have chalked it up to a one off case of an unsanitary plant that fell through the cracks. But frozen waffles, onions and eggs have been recalled in recent weeks adding to concerns over the quality and safety of America’s food supply.

Truthfully we could go back even further and say that Covid-19 prompted consumers to take a closer look at food sources, supply chains and how their favorite products get from point A to point B.  The back-to- back recalls pick at an underlying fear that what we put in our grocery carts might not be safe.  

Are consumer senses heightened, or are food safety concerns merited?

Are This Many Recalls Normal?

Consumers are not being unreasonable in the assumption that if a food product is available for purchase at the local grocery store, it probably went through an inspection process at some stage of its journey and it’s safe to eat.  Approximately 80% of the food we consume is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), meaning food processing facilities have to comply with certain standards of handling put in place to minimize the risk or food contamination, from bacteria, allergens or debris. 

But, human error, accidents, and sometimes disregard for regulations does result in contaminated food. A typical year sees at least 300 recalls on food products. And, a recall could be caused by multiple factors including mislabeling, debris like glass or metal, evidence of illness causing bacteria. Recalls are not unusual. 

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tracks about 800 situations where two or more people are sick and food poisoning is suspected. Of those 800 cases, very few are ultimately categorized as outbreaks. The Boar’s Head situation, which did result in several deaths and has been classified as an outbreak, is not the normal recall scenario.

In fact, the Global Food Security Index, which measures availability and quality standards in 113 countries, placed the U.S. near the top compared with other nations' food safety evaluations.

Are Highly Recognized Brands Falling Short?

If it hadn’t been the beloved McDonald’s Whopper or Boar’s Head, one of the longest standing brands in America, who recalled food, would we have noticed? 

The fact that these are household names who should “know better” and have excellent track records in the past, could be playing a part in heightened concerns. When Costco, Target, Trader Joe’s, and Aldi started pulling ready-to-eat meat meals off the shelves consumers worried they might lose their affordable staples and distrust increased. According to the 2024 International Food Information Council’s Annual Food and Health Survey, consumer trust in the safety of our food dropped by 8% this year. It’s a significant percentage that could be indicative of a long term shift in consumer spending; one that possesses a longer memory of recalled foods.

Yet, trust is what many food manufacturers who chose to issue recalls were aiming to build. A majority of products removed from stores and restaurants were not recalled because of existing outbreaks, but out of hyper precaution. This suggests that they understand supply chain complexities and have worked to incorporate real time data sharing and traceability for the sake of pinpointing problems quickly. 

But It’s Still Bacteria

At the end of the day, whether it’s lettuce or deli meat, millions of pounds of food are recalled every year due to bacterial contamination. On one hand, there is no way to completely eradicate contaminations. Our food supply chains are complex. Food manufacturing businesses are large and one facility ships food all over the world. More people buy products online than ever before which adds complexity to tracing where food products really end up. And these days, the manufacturing of individual components of a grocery item could have been outsourced to multiple facilities in different locations. How many surfaces does the food in a frozen dinner touch before it lands on our plates?

Human error, additional regulations, and longer commutes can add layers of complexity to a chain of systems dependent on precise refrigeration temperatures, maximizing windows of freshness, and speedy delivery across oceans. It’s not hard to imagine how quickly bacteria could spread as food moves from one place to another.

Food science expert Donald Schaffner says the back to back recalls make the situation feel more worrisome than it is. The issue is not that food production is more unsafe now than it was a decade ago, he says, it’s that we haven’t done much to make it even safer. If contamination is inevitable then work can be done to shut down the spread of bacteria faster. Technology that supports traceability will help manufacturers pinpoint problems quickly and minimize waste. If we know exactly which farm had E-coli, exactly where and when their produce traveled, and which products now contain this source it will be much easier to make recall decisions.

Consumers will have to decide whether they appreciate how recalls play a part in food safety more than they fear big food companies and their manufacturing practices.