Australians who visit or live in the US quickly learn that peanut butter is to many Americans what Vegemite is Australians.
So when former chief executive officer of the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), Stewart Parnell, was sentenced to 28 years gaol, everybody sat up and listened, especially those in the food industry.
Peanut butter is an indispensable food item that crosses the generations.
It’s used in almost every conceivable food product and sits in every household pantry, not to mention the hearts and minds of most Americans.
Believe it or not, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich (or PB and J as it’s often titled), is a staple for tens of millions of children here every single day.
Parnell owned and ran PCA before being found guilty on 72 counts of fraud and conspiracy following a salmonella outbreak traced to PCA’s Georgia-based plant.
This was big news for all Americans as their trust in food had been dented.
News outlets nation-wide reported the groundbreaking sentence.
Salmonella is America’s most common cause of food-borne illness and sickens up to 1.4 million people each year.
The PCA outbreak was staggering with nine people dead.
A further 714 people fell ill, some critically, across 46 of the country’s 50 states.
This incident resulted in the largest recall in US history due to the number of products that used the tainted products as an ingredient.
Parnell wasn’t the only person from PCA to go to prison.
His brother and food broker, Michael Parnell, is now doing 20 years time and plant manager, Mary Wilkerson, five.
It was proven that Parnell knew he had a salmonella problem, and that he covered it up and then he approved the sale of adulterated food into interstate commerce.
The term “just ship it” became central to the case, and was the spearhead catchphrase of the prosecution’s fiery opening statement.
This was in reference to an email sent by Parnell to his plant manager regarding a batch of product that he knew was adulterated, where he instructed staff to “Just ship it”.
Moving on from PCA, Blue Bell ice cream is the next high profile case pending.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centre for Disease Control identified the link between the ice cream and an outbreak of listeriosis resulting in the company having to recall products that were adulterated with listeria.
So what does this all mean?
It is clearly apparent to us in the agrifood sector that the safety of America’s food supply is now more front of mind than ever before with the court of public opinion matching an amplified government mandate.
Pivotal to this is the FDA, the federal agency responsible for protecting public health and safety and ensuring the efficacy and safety of many products, including food.
The FDA’s history dates back to 1820, with the first Food and Drug Act was passed in 1906.
Driven by its strict mandates, the administration now has a clear object to overhaul the safety of the nation’s food supply.
It has been aggressively pursuing new tools to accomplish its mission.
Partnering with the Department of Justice, and utilising its own office of criminal investigations, the FDA is increasingly bringing criminal accountability to food company executives and employees for known food safety failures.
The message to those in the US food industry is clear: If you know, how did you respond? Or, why didn’t you know when you should have known?
I recall a decade ago when a global food industry executive stated during his presentation to the World Meat Congress in Brisbane that the reputation for the food industry “takes a lifetime to earn and a moment to burn”.
A decade on, that statement was not only prophetic, the threat of prison is very real for those who expose their customers to food-borne illness.
Transparency and safety are fundamental.
The “just ship it” option is, of course, unacceptable as you can never test your way out of a positive sample.
- David Inall is a former Cattle Council of Australia chief executive officer now based in Atlanta, Georgia, as senior vice-president of United Egg Producers. He writes regularly for Fairfax Agricultural Media about issues in the US farm and food sector.