• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Preventing Brand Damage: A New Bar Is Set for Food Safety Practices

Preventing Brand Damage: A New Bar Is Set for Food Safety Practices

February 19, 2009
Melissa S. Hersh, vice president, supply chain risk management, Marsh Inc.

Recent media coverage of deaths and illness due to the consumption of tainted food highlights a global problem-despite modern technology, food-borne illness is on the increase. Food safety incidents have serious consequences for growers, food processors, distributors, retailers and food service entities. These incidents can result in significant financial damage, including: cost of product recalls, decontamination and other recovery costs, lost sales, litigation costs, damage to brand and reputation, trade restrictions, and reduced company valuation or stock price.

Governments, consumers and stakeholders expect unblemished safety processes from farm to fork, and they increasingly do not care where in the supply chain the failure occurs. If your company is part of the chain of custody, your reputation and financial performance are at risk. Even retailers, once mostly shielded by the branded vendors from reputational harm, now face significant exposure through their own private label brands.

Complicating matters for both food safety and supply continuity is the increasingly global nature of growing locations, processing, packaging and markets. Food supply chains are now exposed to more points of hazards, contaminants, spoilage, delays, disruptions, hygiene issues and third-party participants. The global product recalls spurred by melamine in the Chinese food supply are but one recent example of the domino affect that can occur.

Growing External Responsibility

Although retailers and food service operators often associate food contamination with production and distribution processes, an effective food supply chain risk management program needs to stretch further. Contaminated ground water, soil, crops, animal feed and animals can have detrimental impacts on both supply and demand. A focus on upstream sourcing and operational integrity at the farm and processing level-as well as tight control over logistics process and partners-is crucial for food safety from production to consumption.

In 2008, a number of industry leaders beefed up their internal and external food safety procedures to go beyond the legally required minimum. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as well as regulators in a number of other nations, have also made moves to improve food safety testing and auditing.

Five Steps for Food Safety

Five key actions for food industry participants to take include:

1. Undertake a supply chain vulnerability assessment. The assessment should cover the food safety exposures within your internal supply chain and also that of your key suppliers, logistics partners, and other constituents.

2. Update the policies and procedures of your internal operations and external supply chain, enhancing routine and spot monitoring processes and audits.

3. Strengthen supporting technology by taking advantage of the falling costs of technology to enhance and monitor processes in place, in particular in the areas of traceability and process control.

4. Reexamine your product recall processes from the initial identification of the issue to disposal of recalled product along with brand protection actions in the event of a contamination incident.

5. Consider financial protection, such as a contaminated products insurance program that will cover both the direct recall costs (e.g., the cost of retrieving a contaminated product and replacing that product, as well as public messaging and communications initiatives alerting consumers to the recall) and the indirect recall costs (e.g., brand rehabilitation) if a recall is initiated due to a consumer safety issue.

The Outlook

We expect to see an increased trend in 2009 of companies appointing a chief food officer or a food safety team responsible for centrally assessing and managing overall supply chain risks related to food safety.

    RELATED CONTENT

    RELATED VIDEOS

    Global Supply Chain Management Regulation & Compliance Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt Consumer Packaged Goods Food & Beverage
    KEYWORDS consumer packaged goods Food and Beverage Global Supply Chain Management Regulation & Compliance SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    Melissa S. Hersh, vice president, supply chain risk management, Marsh Inc.

    More from this author

    Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

    Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

    Popular Stories

    • A TOY TRUCK CARRIES A GIANT BOX WITH A RED RIBBON IN A BOW

      Three Trends to Watch During Peak Season 2023

      Apparel
    • On Demand Webinar_SAP.png

      Optimize your Logistics Pinch Points to Build a Risk Resilient & Sustainable Supply Chain

      Webinars
    • A GIANT CONTAINER VESSEL SPORTING THE LETTERING OF YANG MING PLIES THE SEAS

      Yang Ming Accused of Profiteering During Pandemic by Bed Bath & Beyond

      Ocean Transportation
    • WORKERS STAND AT PICKING STATIONS IN A BUSY WAREHOUSE FULL OF PLASTIC BINS AND PACKAGES

      Amazon to Hire 250,000 Logistics Workers for Holidays, Boost Hourly Wages

      Global Trade & Economics
    • A TRUCK DRIVER IN THE CAB OF A TRUCK HOLDS HIS FACE IN HIS HANDSg

      Strangling the Flow: The Impacts of Overbearing Regulations on California’s Logistics Sector

      Last Mile Delivery

    Digital Edition

    Scb august 2023 lg

    2023 100 Great Supply Chain Partners

    VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

    Case Studies

    • JLL Finds Perfect Warehouse Location, Leading to $15M Grant for Startup

    • Robots Speed Fulfillment to Help Apparel Company Scale for Growth

    • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

    • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

    • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

    Visit Our Sponsors

    Antuit Zebra Anvyl AutoStore
    BEUMER Group Blue Ridge Global Brother
    CHEP Cleo Coenterprise
    Data Capture E2open Enveyo
    Eva Air ForwardX Robotics Frayt
    GAINSystems Generix Geodis
    GEP Global Supply Chain Marketing Summit GreyOrange
    Here Holman Logistics Infor
    Inmar Kinaxis Lexis Nexis
    Locus Robotics Logility LogistiVIEW
    Lucas Systems MCA Connect MPO
    Old Dominion OneRail Overhaul
    PartnerLinQ (Visionet) Port of Virginia Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash
    Saddle Creek Logistics SAP Shyft
    Sourcemap SPS Commerce Tecsys
    TGW Systems Thomson Reuters Veho
    Verusen Walmart Workshop
    • More From SCB
      • Featured Content
      • Video Library
      • Think Tank Blog
      • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
      • Whitepapers
      • On-Demand Webinars
      • Upcoming Webinars
    • Digital Offerings
      • Digital Issue
      • Subscribe
      • Manage Your Subscription
      • Newsletters
    • Resources
      • Events Calendar
      • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
      • Supplier Directory
      • Case Study Showcase
      • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
      • 100 Great Partners Form
    • SCB Corporate
      • Advertise on SCB.COM
      • About Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Contact Us
      • Data Sharing Opt-Out

    All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

    Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing