Our Journey to Food Safety Leadership | Our Journey to Food Safety Leadership

Last night, I had a chance to meet with a number of bloggers at our Mississauga offices. I’ve dealt a lot with “mainstream media” over the years but meeting with bloggers, particularly those who keep followers up to date on food and nutrition, was a new step for me.  It’s part of a new reality where people are using social media to speak directly to hundreds and in some cases thousands of followers especially about issues that aren’t always in the mainstream. And that’s important. People are using the internet to get the information they need when they need it.

The real goal for Maple Leaf Foods in doing this kind of event is to keep in touch with our consumers who want to have confidence in the products they have purchased and trusted from our company for years. They have expectations of us and we want to meet those expectations and hear from them. 

Following the listeriosis outbreak of August 2008 we’ve redoubled our efforts in so many areas of food safety and quality control.  And we’ve updated information about our efforts, our commitment, and our record in these areas in our Food Safety Pledge.

One of the things I learned from the events of 2008 is how much the various players in system - consumers, industry and government - can and need to benefit from up-to-date food safety information.

To that end we’ve committed inour  Food Safety Pledge to share what we’ve learned Science and best practices are evolving all the time and new information is always coming on stream. Food safety is a fundamental responsibility that every one of us operating in the food industry shares, and by sharing information we will collectively raise the bar even higher than regulations require.

But what about information for consumers - the millions of Canadians who trust Maple Leaf Foods for a range of great tasting, quality products? That’s why we continue to engage in conversations through different channels. Yesterday, and last week in Vancouver, bloggers we met with put various questions to me and members of our food safety team that their readers wanted addressed. Questions focused on :

What happened to create the crisis in 2008?

What are we doing to ensure training and standards have an effect going forward?

How are we ensuring quality throughout the process: not just in our plants but also at farms and during shipping to stores?

What is our reaction to recent studies about nitrites in food and are we promoting nutritious and healthy options?

These are all areas where we’ve made advances. But we are continuously looking for ways to improve - whether it’s offering a range of healthy choices and balance in our product lines or improving in food safety,

We’ll be looking to see what other comments and questions that bloggers’ readers have in response to the  blog posts based on last night’s session. As well, we’re hoping to hear from you here on this blog.  We’ll continue to answer the top questions and comments we receive on an ongoing basis, as well as share information and updates about our efforts.  It’s all part of maintaining an ongoing discussion on food safety and health issues and I look forward to your participation.

While the use of reusable cloth bags is quickly becoming the ‘norm’ when grocery shopping and is an excellent way to reduce our impact on the environment, there are health and safety concerns to consider.

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association recently performed a random analysis of reusable cloth shopping bags and found that over 30% of the bags contained unsafe levels of harmful bacteria and 40% of the bags had yeast or mould.  Surprising results from an eco-friendly carrying bag that only a few years ago many people would not have considered using.

The good news is that it’s easily preventable.  Simply make a habit of regularly washing your reusable cloth bags, especially those used to transport meat and other perishable food items.  Make sure meat is wrapped tightly with no rips or holes in the packaging to prevent leakage and keep microorganisms at bay.  Another good practice is to make grocery shopping the last errand before you head home so you can store perishable food items in the refrigerator or freezer within two hours of purchase to limit exposure to higher temperatures where harmful bacteria can multiply rapidly.