• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Contact |
  • About Us
    • Why Emydex
    • Our Team
    • Support
    • Video
  • Software
    • General
      • Systems Integration
      • Traceability Reporting
      • Quality & Compliance
      • Emydex Business Intelligence
    • Primary Processing
      • Kill Line & Payments
    • Secondary Processing
      • Carcass Management
      • Packing & Processing
      • Production Planning
      • Yields & Costings
    • Further Processing
      • Recipe Formulation
    • Warehouse & Distribution
      • Warehouse Management
  • Industries
    • Beef
    • Lamb
    • Pork
    • Poultry
    • Fish and Seafood
    • Fresh Produce
    • Further Processing
    • Cold Storage
    • Other Processing
    • Your Role
      • Production Managers
      • Finance Managers
      • I.T. Systems Manager
      • Quality Manager
      • Warehouse Manager
  • Customers
  • Markets
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • Europe
    • North America
  • News
  • Careers
    • Careers
    • Open Roles
    • Employee Testimonials

Emydex

Food Processing Software Solutions

  • About Us
    • Why Emydex
    • Our Team
    • Support
    • Video
  • Software
    • General
      • Systems Integration
      • Traceability Reporting
      • Quality & Compliance
      • Emydex Business Intelligence
    • Primary Processing
      • Kill Line & Payments
    • Secondary Processing
      • Carcass Management
      • Packing & Processing
      • Production Planning
      • Yields & Costings
    • Further Processing
      • Recipe Formulation
    • Warehouse & Distribution
      • Warehouse Management
  • Industries
    • Beef
    • Lamb
    • Pork
    • Poultry
    • Fish and Seafood
    • Fresh Produce
    • Further Processing
    • Cold Storage
    • Other Processing
    • Your Role
      • Production Managers
      • Finance Managers
      • I.T. Systems Manager
      • Quality Manager
      • Warehouse Manager
  • Customers
  • Markets
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • Europe
    • North America
  • News
  • Careers
    • Careers
    • Open Roles
    • Employee Testimonials
  • About Us
    • Why Emydex
    • Our Team
    • Support
    • Video
  • Software
    • General
      • Systems Integration
      • Traceability Reporting
      • Quality & Compliance
      • Emydex Business Intelligence
    • Primary Processing
      • Kill Line & Payments
    • Secondary Processing
      • Carcass Management
      • Packing & Processing
      • Production Planning
      • Yields & Costings
    • Further Processing
      • Recipe Formulation
    • Warehouse & Distribution
      • Warehouse Management
  • Industries
    • Beef
    • Lamb
    • Pork
    • Poultry
    • Fish and Seafood
    • Fresh Produce
    • Further Processing
    • Cold Storage
    • Other Processing
    • Your Role
      • Production Managers
      • Finance Managers
      • I.T. Systems Manager
      • Quality Manager
      • Warehouse Manager
  • Customers
  • Markets
    • Africa
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • Europe
    • North America
  • News
  • Careers
    • Careers
    • Open Roles
    • Employee Testimonials

How the Food Industry should handle contamination

23rd October 2017

Home / Industry News / How the Food Industry should handle contamination

23rd October 2017

From salmonella in Maltesers to insecticide in eggs: how the food industry should handle contamination.

Businesses, regardless of size, should be responsible for their individual link in the food supply chain, so that product contamination can be recognised and dealt with effectively.

According to product liability barrister at a leading London law firm, scares such as the salmonella in Maltesers to eggs contaminated with insecticide are “nightmare scenarios” for the firms involved.

“As consumers, we have a right to assume that the things we buy on the shelves should be safe,” Alistair Mackenzie from Chambers 2 Temple Gardens said.

Food safety regulation is aimed at keeping consumers safe, he added, and to ensure there is no incentive for the industry to hide any issues that it discovers.

Often the law imposes penalties on a wide range of people involved in a contamination case, including those involved at any stage in the food arriving with the final consumer.

“In terms of keeping track of products, monitoring Maltesers products and eggs varies quite a bit, but the responsibility still remains,” said Mr Mackenzie.

“The key has got to be in meticulous record keeping. And making sure that the person you’re sending it on to is also keeping track.”

Mr Mackenzie held up the example of the scares with Mars and eggs as almost polar opposites in the way contamination cases should be handled.

“When Mars first recognised that there might be a salmonella problem, they put their hand up, as the law requires. This is a good example of what should be done; the affected products were clearly indicated and the contaminated was very heavily publicised,” he said.

Comparing this example with the news that eggs were contaminated with insecticide, Mr Mackenzie believes that Mars handled the media effectively and in a transparent way.

“With the eggs, it looks like there has been an attempt to play it down. And the number of eggs that were believed to have entered the UK rose from 21,000 to 700,000 in just one week,” he said.

“Granted, it’s more difficult to have any coordinated strategy in terms of tracking eggs. But more people are worried about the contamination of eggs than Mars products. You should be able to trace an egg from a consumer’s hand back to the chicken it came from.” 

According to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), under national and EU food rules, all food business have to keep traceability information – ‘one step forward and one step back’, i.e. records of from whom they received foods or food ingredients and (except in the case of retail sales) to whom it was supplied. And this information has to be supplied to the authorities on demand.

“The ability to trace and track products and ingredients is particularly important when food is unfit or unsafe and has to be withdrawn or recalled from the market.  The more detailed the traceability information kept, the narrower any recall or withdrawal will be,” a statement from the authority read.

“The FSAI deals with over 500 food incidents per year and overall our experience is that food businesses co-operate with withdrawals and recalls and provide the necessary detailed traceability information when asked or required to do so.”

Article written by Louise Kelly, Independent.

Request a Demo

Filed Under: Company News, Industry News, Press/Media

Our News

Industry Updates

View All News
Emydex Tour of Australia and NZ

Emydex Tour of Australia and New Zealand

13 Mar 2023

A lot of ground was covered by Emydex in Australia and New Zealand over the past three weeks visiting both customers and prospects in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and North & South Islands in New Zealand

Find Out More
Dawn-Pork-and-Bacon

Dawn Pork & Bacon, 17 years on Emydex and counting

03 Feb 2023

Emydex was founded in April 2004, so Dawn P&B was one of the very first customers to go live with an Emydex software system.

Find Out More
Emydex-downunder- update 2023

Emydex Update from Down Under

01 Feb 2023

2023 is shaping up to be a busy year for Emydex in this part of the world (Australasia), with the roll-out of Beef & Pork processing systems …

Find Out More
Emydex Ensuring Quality & Compliance across four continents

Ensuring Quality & Compliance Across Four Continents

23 Jan 2023

Emydex recently completed the upgrade of its Electronic Quality Management System (EQMS) to the latest Version 6 of…

Find Out More
Farmer Bookings & Feedback via Livestock Portal

Farmer Bookings & Feedback via Livestock Portal

11 Jan 2023

A new web-based appointment booking and feedback system.

Find Out More
Emydex CEO - David McMahon

Emydex CEO Update – 2022 Review

20 Dec 2022

Emydex CEO Update – 2022 Review Looking back on 2022, last year continued with the trend of challenging…

Find Out More
Emydex-Livestock-Settlements-System

Emydex CAPS off year with Livestock Payments System

12 Dec 2022

Emydex CAPS off the year with a new Livestock Settlements System For most Meat processors, the procurement of…

Find Out More
fish-traceability-04

New FDA Requirements for Seafood Traceability

14 Nov 2022

New FDA Requirements for Seafood Traceability   Seafood Traceability Requirements Retailers, restaurants, and consumers have been very frustrated…

Find Out More
Newsletter

Find out more about us & what we can do for your business...

Primary Sidebar

Footer

Links

Privacy Statement

Terms of Use

Careers

Downloads

Your Business

Software

Modules

Job Roles

Industries

Our Markets

Ireland & EU

Australasia

Africa

Canada & North America

Newsletter

Find out more about us and what we can do for your business

Emydex Processing Software Solutions © 2023 | Website designed by Giant Elk Creative