One thing we have learned or at least taken a step towards understanding is the financial impact of these types of events. The Emerging Pathogens Institute of the University of Florida has issued a Report that indentifies the top 10 pathogen-food combinations that cause illness in the U.S. annually as well as their financial impact. Salmonella is the leading pathogen and the culprit in the recent tomato recall costing $3B per year. According to the report the top 10 pathogens cost us $8B per year.

This author believes you could actually triple those numbers as most cases of simple diarrhea and vomiting never make there way to the hospital or other medical centers, but do in fact cause loss of work, productivity and wages. $24B is a big number.

The lesson hear is that we have still not solved the food-borne issue illness or the farm to fork issue that requires a supply chain that is traceable to it’s original source. Until we do, what goes around will continue to come around and the costs will continue to go up.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Yesterday Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc., a California-based food supplier for a number of retail companies announced the recall of grape tomatoes produced by one of their growers based on a possible salmonella contamination.

Here’s the title of a post from three years ago on cherry tomatoes which are basically the same product, “I say Tomato, and you say Tomah to. I ate some last night”!

So the question is what have we learned and how has it been applied to these products. Food recalls cost money. They create lost revenue for retailers and lost work hours for consumers affected by the illness they cause.

If you are a retailer or a supplier affected by these recalls and you want to improve performance, give SafeSourcing a call.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.