Dive Brief:
- Nestle unveiled its $31 million state-of-the-art expansion of the Nestle Quality Assurance Center (NQAC) in Dublin, Ohio.
- The facility performs food safety and quality assurance testing to ensure all products, ingredients and manufacturing environments meet regulatory requirements and Nestle's own internal quality and safety standards.
- The food safety lab's expansion means a near doubling of the facility to 82,000 square feet, which includes an expanded 32,000-square-foot microbiology lab. The company also overhauled its chemistry lab and related facilities to boost capacity and efficiency, according to a news release.
Dive Insight:
Nestle said its investment will enable the company to "exceed regulators' expectations" when it comes time to verify the quality and safety of ingredients, environmental hygeine, and quality and safety assurance for the finished product, per FSMA regulations. The FSMA compliance date for large manufacturers is just over a month away, and it's unclear whether all manufacturers will meet regulatory compliance by that date.
Nestle's debut of its renovated food safety facility is well timed as the industry struggles with ensuring consumers' trust in the American food system. More than three-quarters of U.S. consumers said food safety is a concern, according to a June 2016 Harris Poll.
That distrust may stem in part from a steady stream of product recalls from major companies. That includes General Mills' flour recall, which continues to expand to other brands, companies and overseas, and a mysterious sugar recall, for which the FDA will not reveal the source, citing corporate confidentiality laws. ConAgra and Weis Markets have already initiated their own product recalls due to the recalled sugar, which may be contaminated with metal pieces.
Nestle itself initiated a major recall last year of its Maggi noodles in India due to lead contamination and higher-than-allowed levels of monosodium glutamate, according to a government laboratory. And in 2009, Nestle recalled Toll House refrigerated cookie dough after reports of E. coli sickened 66 people across 28 states.
After the 2009 Toll House recall, "Nestle's food safety ethos shifted," Quartz reported after an interview with NQAC lab director Aaron Ayres. Instead of regulatory compliance being the key driver for food safety initiatives, Nestle is more focused on quality assurance and meeting consumers' expectations for safety and quality, Ayres said.