Romaine calm: We now have a recall, but...

“Since 2006, when the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement was signed in the aftermath of the spinach recall, things were going well for the industry. But reports suggest scheduled audits in the California leafy green industry dropped 47% since 2010 with little to no explanation. So is complacency the reason why we are dealing with this recent E. coli outbreak affecting lettuce and cauliflower in Canada?”

We have finally gone from a slew of alerts on romaine lettuce to a series of clear recalls affecting various produce including romaine lettuce and cauliflower. This is the worst time of year for Canadians as our economy is more vulnerable to outbreaks affecting imports. Chances are cauliflower will be very expensive and that lettuce will either be hard to get or shelves will be scarcely stacked as we saw during the several alerts throughout this year.

Unlike before, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency executed a recall on lettuce as they have a company, a name, brands, lot numbers and products that can be identify. A single farm appears to be responsible for this E .coli outbreak: California-based Adam Bros. Farming Inc., one of several scaled producers of leafy greens in the state. Many verticals appear to have been affected by the outbreak, including romaine lettuce, cauliflower, and red leaf lettuce. In fact, even sandwiches containing products coming from the same farm where pulled off the shelves. Without knowing the actual cause of the contamination authorities were able to pinpoint one culprit by deduction.     

in the aftermath of the deadly spinach E. coli outbreak more than 115 farms, including Adam Bros Farming, signed the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement in 2006. This agreement represents more than 98% of all leafy greens produced in the state. According to many sources, at least 276 consumer illnesses and 3 deaths have been attributed to the tainted produce. In Canada, during this episode, it was next to impossible to purchase spinach. Losses for the spinach industry were significant. The industry went along with a rigour-charged voluntary system as it vowed never to go through something similar to the 2006 E. coli outbreak ever again. The industry-led initiative, the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, garnered some impressive results, that is up until now.   

This time it’s lettuce. Implications for the industry could be massive as potential losses can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. As it did with spinach, the entire industry will be impacted, not just Adam Bros Farming. Lettuce is one of the big sellers which will impact the entire supply chain, from farm to retailer. At the retail level, some of these products have profit margins exceeding 50%, so grocers who are refunding customers and dealing with the grief that comes with a recall are not pleased.

Protocols and regulations are already in place. Checkpoints, audits, inspections, everything has been designed to increase compliance across the industry. But some evidence may suggest complacency. According to industry reports, scheduled audits went from a peak of 589 in 2010 to less than 380 in 2017. In fact, the number of audits has been dropping steadily since 2010. That is a 47% drop in self-regulated audits that the industry needs in order to keep things in check. This is a substantial shift. In the mean time, the number of unannounced audits remains stable, at round 80 per year. When reading the industry report from the Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, no explanation is offered as to why the number of audits has dropped.

The pact’s genesis was a crisis affecting spinach. This latest recall is telling the industry that the will to implement more rigour throughout the entire industry has a lifespan and needs to be reinvigorated before someone else dies. Reports posted on the group’s website reads more like self-congratulatory broadcasting than about food safety for the consumer. After 12 years perhaps it is time for the industry to revisit some of the fundamental reasons why the agreement was set up in the first place. This is about mitigating risks that comes with relying on global food supply chains. Due to the vey nature of these systems one mistake impacts many others simultaneously. Rigour cannot be compromised. 

Nevertheless, we also have our own issues right here in Canada. Considering what we know now, products from Adam Bros Farming were being sold in at least 6 provinces around the country. However, the Public Health Agency of Canada sent out alerts related to romaine lettuce covering only three provinces, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. These alerts went on for weeks. From the start, most knew that it was almost impossible that the outbreak only affected three provinces. Grocers across the country had the forethought to pull romaine from their shelves even though the alert only covered three provinces.

For this holiday season, consumers snubbing lettuce or cauliflower only to protect themselves and their love ones should not be blamed. Turnips anyone?