Who Screwed The Salami?

I was on the road a few weeks ago when the hourly news announced a recall of over one million pounds of salami and “ready to eat sausages” due to a serious outbreak of Salmonella. Daniele International  from Rhode Island manufactured the suspect products, which were then sold under its own labels and others including “Boar's Head All Natural Salame Coated with Coarse Black Pepper” and “Dietz & Watson Artisan Collection Baby Genoa Pepper Salame.” (The emphasis is mine.) Later that evening it was on the local news because some of the products were sold by locally headquartered Amazon and Costco. On the heals of the major recall of hamburgers a few weeks earlier, I kept wondering ‘is anyone really out there watching our backs?’

A few days later when the press leaked the Administration’s planned three year freeze on discretionary spending, and I didn’t even occur to me to consider the impact this might have on USDA and FDA inspections. It wasn’t but 12 hours later that the short piece, Salmonella Strikes Again, by Professor Marion Nestle appeared on the Atlantic Food Channel. It was an update of sorts with new information including the fact that the cases of Salmonella had been steadily reported since the previous July - yes, six months ago - and that Daniele International was indicating that ‘black pepper’ might be the source of the outbreak. Professor Nestle provided a link to updated statistics on the cases attributed to this outbreak and a link to the Daniele website - the CDC website now puts the number of cases at 204, the largest number concentrated here in Washington. It's difficult to know who's playing 'hide the salame' this time, but one thing is for sure, the consumers always seem to get it in the end.

A website can be a very useful tool for providing a direct line for all sorts of communication between a company, its customers and the general public. Given the concentration in the food processing industry, I just assumed that Daniele was a subsidiary of Big Ag, but no, it appears to be yet another example of the American Dream. This privately held company was started after WWII by a husband and wife, Croatian refugees who had fled the devastation. The company is still operated by the family, and its website provides a bit its history, and even a factory tour in words and images. It has all the right words for a mom & pop shop grown to 270 employees - old world traditions and skill, time consuming processes, and even a nod to the ‘natural’ food crowd:

Our salame naturale are all-natural, which means that no nitrites or nitrates are added. The pork used is grown hormone-free.

But, how could it all happen to this picture postcard of a company?

The recall was announced on Friday January 22, 2010 just before midnight when the media and public were sound asleep. The company has also provided links on its website to a "Company Statement (January 31, 2010)" along with a "Letter to Our Customers," and a "Frequently Asked Questions" all in PDF format, although it is difficult at this point in time to tell exactly when these documents were added. The “Letter” appears to be a copy of the recall statement, and in addition to the list of products being recalled and an offer for refunds, it ended with the following paragraph:

Daniele, Inc. has been producing premium gourmet products for over 60 years. The company’s goal right now is to take prudent, proactive measures to do everything possible to remove any products that do not meet our high standards for quality and taste.

But, how could this have all happened to this picture postcard of a company that was so quick (!!!) in acting to protect its “high standards for quality and taste.”

Daniele’s “Company Statement (January 31, 2010)” is actually dated January 26, and in it the company again offers reassurances:

As you know, as part of our rigorous food safety program, Daniele routinely tests every lot of our products for pathogens. In addition, the USDA conducts independent tests of our products every month.

and:

When my grandfather founded this company in 1945 he built his business on quality products. Just as you had his commitment then, you have my commitment now that all of us here at Daniele will continue to work as hard as we can to strengthen our already strict standards for taste, quality and customer satisfaction.

But, how could this have all happened to this picture postcard of a company that so obviously has strict standards for quality. Was it the USDA (meat inspection) or the FDA (black pepper inspection) that let us down?

Of course, I couldn’t leave the website without at least taking a look at the questions people had been asking the company, or at least the questions its PR consultants thought they should be asking, in their FAQ pdf. It is very instructive reading:

Q: How did this happen? What steps are you taking to ensure that this does not happen again?
A: Samples of the black pepper used to coat the finished products and to which other products may have been exposed during production have tested positive for salmonella. We have changed suppliers of our spices, and specifications for spices. We are now using only irradiated spices.

Q: Is there a contaminant in the plant? How can I be sure other products aren’t affected?
A: Our production environment has been fully sanitized and tested for salmonella and its cleanliness and sanitary condition is well documented.

Q: How can you be certain these are the only Daniele products contaminated?
A: Our production process has been validated to eliminate all microbiological pathogens. Some of our finished products are coated with black pepper. The pepper used has tested positive for salmonella. This establishes that only pepper coated items, items in the same package with sliced pepper coated products, and three other products which may have been exposed to them during production could have been contaminated.

Q: Do you not test foods before they are shipped to market? How was this not detected?
A: Yes, our products are tested extensively throughout the curing and packaging processes. We are currently conducting a thorough investigation to uncover any possible source of contamination.

Q: Are plant operations suspended?
A: We have suspended new production of all Pepper Coated Salame products included in the recall. In addition, we have stopped using pepper from our inventory and switched to using only irradiated pepper.

It is difficult to tell how this all could have happened to a picture postcard of a company that so obviously has strict procedures in place, that is, unless you start reading between the lines and connecting the dots.

The questions and answers in part negate Daniele’s "Letter" and "Statement." If their programs and processes, including inspections and testing of ingredients and final product, have been strict and rigorous how did the problem occur in the first place and how did so much contaminated product get shipped from the plant! Did they buy contaminated black pepper or was it contaminated in storage or during handling and if “Daniele routinely tests every lot of our products for pathogens” how did so of the contaminated meat get shipped from the plant! If as the company has indicated “the USDA conducts independent tests of our products every month,” how did so much of the contaminated meat get shipped from the plant! And, if the black pepper truly is the source of the contamination, where was the FDA! 

I think that Professor Nestle should have chosen a more telling title for her post since ‘Salmonella’ is always there, probing every second of every day the defenses that protect our food supply.  The culpability seems to fall on our failing system of minimal government inspection and industry self-regulation that was the cause – hundreds of billions for tanks, planes, missiles, and metal detectors to keep our borders safe, but only pennies to protect our food supply from microscopic terrorists!

But, I don’t think the culpability stops there. Consumers keep buying from big box chains and Internet discounters because of their low prices with asking more than “how much does it cost. These retailers squeeze their suppliers, especially the medium and small companies, for lower and lower wholesale pricing. The producers use promises of continued large volumes to justify accepting the lower and lower margins they negotiate, - their only recourse to increase their own profits, if they make any at all, is to cut costs even further, continuing the downward spiral in quality and flavor. This of course is the one of the major flaws in the whole low cost/high volume supply chain model predicated on hoards of customers willing to overlook quality.

Hopefully people aren’t becoming desensitized to all these recalls, just shrugging their shoulders and switching to a different low-price industrial brand.