When the FDA refers to traceability today they are talking about one back one forward reporting. Does this make our supply chain safer?
The definition of traceability according to Wikipedia refers to the completeness of the information about every step in a process chain. Traceability is the ability to verify the history, location, or application of an item by means of documented recorded identification.

When the FDA uses this term what they are referring to is the capability of bidirectional traceability or tracing products one step back one step forward. This means identifying the immediate supplier of the product and identifying the immediate recipient of the product, which is not the final retailer.
 
However the process also requires some level of common sense. I’m a man of faith, but blind faith really gets us no where when we are talking about food product traceability. GS1 has created a certification for traceability in cooperation with a number of organizations such as FMI, CIES and BASF.

From a common sense perspective one would believe that all products we consume are safe, that all produce and grain products are traced back to the seed level. Unfortunately this is not the case.

Let’s just examine milk products or byproducts. In a post from last year this author discussed a situation in China at the time where 13,000 babies were hospitalized and over 53,000 babies affected and that similar events could happen here. Well, yesterday we heard of HVP for the first time and the associated recall by the FDA. Traceability is really the only way that manufacturers and retailers and other members of the supply chain can maintain control of the ingredients in the products they produce or buy for resale.

As always we appreciate and look forward to your comments.

The?Food and Drug Administration? has issued a recall for products containing? the additive? called HVP?which stands for hydrolyzed vegetable protein. HVP is?an ingredient that is made of soy, corn and wheat and is used in thousands of food products and may be contaminated with Salmonella. Food producers usually buy the ingredient from companies that make the additive. The additive has been found in a variety of products such as soup mixes and salad dressings since the contamination was found but the FDA expects the product list to grow

You can keep track of the products being recalled by going to the following website www.foodsafety.gov? which is designed for easy consumer?s searches.

Please pass this on or share it with anyone you know that buys for resale food products and do all that you can to support databases that offer traceability beyond one forward and one back searches.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

This author believes that $2,000,000.00 is not enough when any of our citizens in particular children are put at risk. If you were to ask any parent what the loss or severe illness of a child would be worth, there really is no satisfactory answer.

This author also does not believe the fine is severe enough when there were five separate recalls of (hold your breath) 698 toys and other children?s products. These toys were not expensive which means more people will buy them. The products were sold in California and Washington based Daiso stores and consisted of toys, purses, stuffed animals and other products. I can see a product or a couple of products having a problem, but 698. It appears as though none of the right questions were being asked during the manufacturing process.

Senior management of the company has indicated that they want to make sure that their products are safe. They will have to because they will not be allowed to import any more children?s products until they are proven to be safe. How they plan to do this is unclear at this point. Evidently the Consumer Product Safety Commission will be monitoring the issue.

Clearly $2M is a significant number to most of us. In addition the lost sales on non imported products that were part of the sales plan are a much higher number.

We appreciate and look forward to your comments.

I did not include the names of the retailers, suppliers or other specific data which is formidable. The call to action is that these products impact our children, friends, family, pets, and environment as well as just about everyone we come in contact with. So who is dropping the ball, manufacturers, buyers or maybe even consumers? This author will leave that for each of you to decide but one thing is sure we need to do a better job.

Ask your solution provider how they can help you and if they could trace the origin of any of these products issues.

1.?Children’s toys sold at gift and specialty stores nationwide.
2.?Wind chime toys
3.?Toy guns.
4.?Children’s toy jewelry
5.?Children’s necklaces
6.?Knight Hawk toy helicopters
7.?Greeting cards with bracelets sold at card stores and other retailers
8.?Discovery Kids lamps
9.?Umbrella strollers
10.?Drop-side cribs
11.?CYBEX strollers
12.?Maxi-Cosi Mico infant child restraint systems
13.?Dorel? child restraint systems
14.?Evenflo First Choice infant child restraint systems
15.?Mia Moda infant child restraints and bases
16.?Glass water bottles
17.?Rechargeable batteries
18.?Candle lighters
19.?Children’s clothing
20.?Hooded nylon jackets
21.?Hooded sweatshirts
22.?Granola bars
23.?Frozen chicken pot pie
24.?24 oz. Party Platter Cookies
25.?Red Darla cheese
26.?16 oz. Spinach Vinaigrette
27.?Whole Schmaltz Herring
28.?Jumbo Shells with Cheese
29.?Instant noodle products
30.?Dry Apricot food treats
31.?Chicken Formula Raw Frozen Diet for dogs and cats
32.?Beef and veal products
33.?Frozen turkey patty products
34.?Ready-to-eat sausage products
35.?Frozen cured pork patty mix
36.?Pork barbecue products
37.?Fresh boneless beef products
38.?Ready-to-eat (RTE) varieties of Italian
39.?Various tire manufactures have issued recalls on certain tire types.
40.?Automobile Recalls

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

5. Polypropylene (PP). Polypropylene has good chemical resistance, is strong, and has a high melting point making it good for hot-fill liquids. PP is found in flexible and rigid packaging to fibers and large molded parts for automotive and consumer products.

6.?Polystyrene (PS). Polystyrene is a versatile plastic that can be rigid or foamed. General purpose polystyrene is clear, hard and brittle. It has a relatively low melting point. Typical applications include protective packaging, containers, lids, cups, bottles and trays.

7.?Other. Use of this code indicates that the package in question is made with a resin other than the six listed above, or is made of more than one resin listed above, and used in a multi-layer combination.

Understanding your companies CSR initiatives around recycling and what the container codes mean and don?t mean on the containers your are buying is an important part of your sourcing initiatives.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

SPI (The Society of the Plastics Industry) codes were developed to meet all recyclers? needs and also provide manufacturers a consistent, uniform system that could be applied across the country. Most if not all municipal recycling programs target all types of packaging containers. The SPI code offers a way to identify the specific resin content of bottles and containers commonly found in the residential waste. Let?s take a look at the first four.

2.??High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). HDPE is used to make bottles for milk, juice, water and laundry products. Unpigmented bottles are translucent, have good barrier properties and stiffness, and are well suited to packaging products with a short shelf life such as milk. Because HDPE has good chemical resistance, it is used for packaging many household and industrial chemicals such as detergents and bleach. Pigmented HDPE bottles have better stress crack resistance than unpigmented HDPE bottles.

3.?Vinyl (Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC). In addition to its stable physical properties, PVC has excellent chemical resistance, good weatherability, flow characteristics and stable electrical properties. The diverse slate of vinyl products can be broadly divided into rigid and flexible materials. Bottles and packaging sheet are major rigid markets, but it is also widely used in the construction market for such applications as pipes and fittings, siding, carpet backing and windows. Flexible vinyl is used in wire and cable insulation, film and sheet, floor coverings synthetic leather products, coatings, blood bags, medical tubing and many other applications.
?

4.?Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE). Used predominately in film applications due to its toughness, flexibility and relative transparency, making it popular for use in applications where heat sealing is necessary. LDPE is also used to manufacture some flexible lids and bottles and it is used in wire and cable applications.

During tomorrows post we will discuss the final three codes and some thoughts as to what they mean in your work.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

This is not a new subject for this blogger, and just to make myself clear again, all retail buyers and category managers responsible for putting container foods on the shelves of our supermarkets, convenience stores, drug stores and other specialty stores should not be buying products that contain the chemical BPA. This author has a question for all the buyers mentioned above. If it were possible to have the chemical BPA in a glass would you drink it or have your children or grandchildren drink it? Let?s be honest, the answer is a big fat NO!

An article in USA TODAY by Wendy Koch titled Bans sought for chemical found in baby bottles focuses on the fact that many states are seeking bans of the product. Our federal government has had the opportunity to declare BPA unsafe for years and follow in the footsteps of other countries like Canada and Japan that have already done so and found alternative ingredients. It really comes as no surprise that states are leading the way based on the bureaucratic mess we have seen come to a head in our nations capital recently? which have spawned activities like the tea party and politician resignations. It?s actually prophetic that the states are doing something that the feds can not do because our founding fathers always thought that the power for change should reside in the sates anyway. As further evidence that the states need to drive this effort our federal organization the Food and Drug Administration or FDA recently said it has ?some concerns? WOW.

The product in my refrigerator is a major national brand that was purchased at a national supermarket chain that should know better.

Here is a simple message to the buyers and category managers addressed above. Ask if food product containers you are buying contain the chemical BPA. If they do, don?t buy them. I know you would not ask your family or loved ones to consume them.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

This author has posted about this subject before during discussions about food contamination, e.coli, salmonella and other related subjects. What bothered me was the response I got from the hotel which has become too typical for organizations when a consumer complains was. ?Not us not here?.

I called the front desk to ask if my stay could be extended as I was in no shape to travel let alone be talking on the phone. I was immediately transferred to the head of the food and beverage department. After a brief but polite description of my condition I was lectured that it could not have happened here. I was the led down the path of we check our batch numbers regularly etc. and after all food poisoning can not take place in as little as four hours.

We discussed who I was and SafeSourcing to which I was told he had read my blog before. I said since that is the case please read my Monday post and I will bring you up to speed as to what you need to know about food poisoning and its potential severity and that it did not mean he had bought tainted products or even had poor food preparation practices. So here you go and if you have any further questions please give me a call.

By the way thanks for comping the extra night.

According to emedicinehealth.com Food poisoning is a common, usually mild, but sometimes deadly illness. Symptoms of food poisoning depend on the type of contaminant and the amount eaten. The symptoms can develop rapidly, within 30 minutes, or slowly, worsening over days to weeks. Most of the common contaminants cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramping. Usually food poisoning is not serious, and the illness runs its course in 24-48 hours.

Viruses account for most food poisoning cases where a specific contaminant is found but ?there are many many causes that all food workers should be aware of and it is much ?more than just e.coli and salmonella which get most of the press. So according to ?emedicinehealth.com there are many other causes and here are 20 of them.
1.?Noroviruses.
2.?Rotavirus
3.?Hepatitis A
4.?Bacteria
5.?Salmonellae:
6.?Campylobacter
7.?Staphylococcus aureus
8.?Bacillus cereu
9.?Escherichia coli (E coli)
10.?Shigella (traveler?s diarrhea)
11.?Clostridium botulinum
12.?Vibrio cholerae
13.?Parasites.
14.?Giardia (beaver fever)
15.?Cryptosporidium
16.?Toxic agents
17.?Mushroom toxins
18.?Ciguatera poisoning
19.?Scombroid
20.?Pesticides

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.