Dive Brief:
- The Food and Drug Administration has refused to name the manufacturer of the ongoing E. coli outbreak traced to soy nut butter products, according to Food Safety News.
- A civil action filed this week by one of the victims of the outbreak has named Dixie Dew Products Inc. as the soy paste manufacturer in the case, along with the SoyNut Butter Co., which has recalled some products because of the outbreak.
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 people in nine states — which are on both coasts — have been sickened so far in the E. coli outbreak.
Dive Insight:
Roasted whole soybeans are used commercially to make soy nut butter, a tasty alternative to peanut butter. As more schools everywhere have started banning peanut butter because of children's allergies, the product has recently become more popular and this outbreak is a huge concern.
While most actions the government takes are a matter of public record and food safety issues should be quickly disclosed, current law allows for some vital information to be kept from the public eye. In general, trade secrets and confidential information cannot be disclosed to the public. And the federal government has used these prohibitions to keep some information about recalls away from disclosure. Last year, a sugar recall led to P.F. Chang's frozen entrees and some baked goods also being pulled from shelves — but the federal government never disclosed the supplier that had the problem. In the soy nut butter case, the Food and Drug Administration will not say which grocery stores sold the problematic items.
Transparency is of utmost importance to consumers today — especially when it comes to food safety and recalls. Instead of hiding behind technicalities in public records law and letting things stay secret, companies should speak out to try to get ahead of the problems. Being transparent about recalls and food safety may be embarrassing for a company, but in the long run, consumers will place more trust in a manufacturer that is honest.
Being upfront will also keep the residual impact of an outbreak to a minimum. Consumers may now be steering clear of any product that contains soy paste because they don't know where the contamination originated. Manufacturers who use soy paste as an ingredient also need to be able to trust their suppliers and be able to know that the products they are making are safe. A quick disclosure about where the problem started and why it happened would end that uncertainty and allow both consumers and manufacturers a chance to breathe easier.
Experts believe that protecting a company is a practice that is important to control chaos that could result if it is associated with a problem, sparing the company from facing what could be a quick demise.