In our last column, we introduced the fundamental challenges facing industry as it works to improve food safety. Some of the greatest challenges when it comes to food safety are driven by basic economics. This is because improving food safety, in most cases, costs money.
Unless everyone in the industry is investing in the same food-safety systems, those companies that spend more money will (at least in the short term) face a substantial competitive disadvantage when compared to those companies that do not. Moreover, companies that search aggressively for and then find pathogens will, in most cases, face more governmental scrutiny than those that do not.