Food industry should focus more on everyday health issues, says Trace One

Collaboration software company Trace One has urged the food industry to adopt a comprehensive approach towards managing food contamination and health issues, instead of acting on only the most high-profile food scares.

Trace One said that the real threats to consumers are everyday contamination and health issues, rather than the widely reported cases.

Recently, there have been a number of food scandals in the UK, however none have received as much widespread publicity and raised public outcry as the 2013 horsemeat scandal, in which undeclared or improperly declared horse meat in food was advertised as beef.

The Food Standards Agency also alerted the public to salmonella-contaminated peanut butter, beer bottles containing glass, botulism in Italian olives and isotonic drinks with loose plastic in their containers in 2012.

It was found that in each of the cases, it was the swift action of retailers and authorities, rather than pressure from the public, which ensured products were removed from shelves; consumers were not affected.

However, Trace One have said that there was still evidence that the public was wary of the horsemeat scandal.

Trace One SVP Nick Martin said: "In our 24-hour, always-online culture, shoppers are becoming far more aware of food incidents. It can therefore be tempting to spend the most time and attention on those that receive the most public interest.

"However, by the time the public is aware of a food scare, any damage to health will invariably already have been done. Indeed, by this point, at-risk foodstuffs should have been recalled and investigations should be underway.

"Instead, the industry needs to be certain that it has complete transparency and traceability over its products and supply chain so that, when a potentially dangerous product or ingredient is discovered, it can be isolated and removed from the chain as soon as possible."