The Moral of the Story | Episode 72

In episode 72 of Don't Eat POOP! A Food Safety Podcast , Matt Regusci and I are talking about two of people’s favorite things: chocolate and coffee. Unfortunately, it’s for a not-so-great reason: major product recalls.

Tune in to learn all about the recall of over 4 million pounds of chocolate potentially contaminated with salmonella. As well as the recall of 242 different canned coffee products potentially contaminated with botulism.

In this episode:

• [01:15] The two recalls
• [04:49] A new Peanut Corporation of America outbreak?
• [06:09] The recalled chocolate products
• [09:02] The recall process and its challenges
• [11:27] Even more chocolate with salmonella products
• [13:55] The possible impacts of the salmonella chocolate recall
• [18:24] The coffee with botulism recall
• [22:42] Co-packers, suppliers, and the importance of food safety
• [25:58] Helping mom-and-pop family-owned companies
• [28:48] Don’t post your food safety issues online
• [30:10] Best practices to keep your company safe

The Snapchill LLC Recall

Snapchill LLC is voluntarily recalling all canned coffee products manufactured by the company, within expiration date, because their current process could lead to the growth and production of the deadly toxin, botulinum toxin, in low acid canned foods.

This may sound bad at first glance, but it gets worse.

The problem is that their products were distributed nationwide through various coffee roasters and retail locations, as well as through direct online purchase from Snapchill. So, beware if you’re going for a canned coffee.

For a thorough list of the 242 different coffee products and their respective coffee roaster names see this.

Snapchill functioned as a co-packer for 128 individual coffee roasters, meaning that they produced and packaged the canned coffee products for each roaster with their own labels.

This means that this recall is affecting negatively not only Snapchill’s image but that of all those who relied on them as a co-packer.

The Moral of the Story

Remember that you’re only as good as your weakest link.

You can have the greatest brand in the world and you can have the greatest suppliers in the world but if your co-packer messes up, then it could mess up your entire brand too.

In Snapchill’s case, they were the weakest link for their 128 co-packing clients.

That being said not everybody can have their own manufacturing plant and co-packers are a great solution to that, especially in the food industry.

The key to avoiding a situation like this is at the start of the process: when you’re looking for a co-packer you must do the legwork:

1. Visit them
2. Look at the facility
3. Understand their food safety practices
4. See if they have a third-party food safety audit
5. See if they actually care about food safety

Remember you're handing your brand off to these people so you can’t be cautious enough.

The good thing about this little list is that it also works for when you are looking for a supplier. Don’t forget to use it.

So, remember it’s not just about looking after your own food safety and your own four walls, but about making sure that food safety is being valued across your suppliers and partners, up and down the chain. Because, ultimately, you’re only as good as your weakest link

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