A closer look at recent recalls and incidents across the U.S.

If you’ve been following the news lately, you’ve probably started to notice a trend in food-borne illnesses at some of the more common brands and restaurants in the United States. 

Back in 2018 this invoked concerns about Romaine lettuce, driving recalls and five deaths. More recently, the spotlight was on Boar’s Head and McDonald's. Just last week, the FDA issued a recall for organic baby carrots impacting numerous large grocers. 

What’s the story and why is this happening now? 

This news leaves us with some important questions:

1. Why is this happening? 
2. Has there been an increase in food borne illnesses and deaths, or is this just a perception issue?
3. What should these companies be doing to prevent this? 
   
   

Before we dive into this, here’s a quick summary of what’s going on with the two most publicized recent incidents – McDonalds and Boar’s Head:

McDonald's

At the end of October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found a link between McDonald’s Quarter Pounders and an E. coli outbreak that hit 10 states, with 75 cases, 20+ resulting in hospitalizations, and one death.

Boar's Head

A listeria outbreak in a facility in Jarratt, Virginia was linked to cases in 19 states, with nearly 60 known cases and ten known deaths. As a result, the company recalled 7.1 million pounds of deli meat and ended their production of liverwurst. 

What about all of those other recalls in grocery stores?

It’s not just Boar’s Head and McDonald’s, Fast Company reported  on a long list of incidents that have come up in just the last four months:

• High levels are arsenic were detected in apple juice, forcing a recall at Walmart and Aldi
• People found metal in chicken nuggets, causing Perdue to do a recall
• Numerous frozen products were recalled across stores including Trader Joe’s and Walmart due to a potential listeria contamination reported by BrucePac (a meat supplier)
• Listeria was linked to several frozen waffle brands
  
  

Let’s revisit the questions above:

1. Why is this happening?

Most facilities use older equipment and machines; replacing equipment is costly, making maintenance crucial, but it's difficult to adequately track and manage.

Contamination can occur at many stages of food production and processing; checks must occur at many different stages to ensure food safety.

2. Has there been an increase in food borne illnesses and deaths, or is this just a perception issue?

Not really. The 2024 issues are generally consistent with previous years– and NBC spoke with FDA officials who stated "The U.S. food supply remains one of the safest in the world," meaning this is likely more of a perception issue based on the size and notable brands from  the most recent incidents.

3. What should these companies be doing to prevent this? 

The most important question requires us to look back at the facts and understand the core problems and challenges that create these often deadly problems. 

Let’s consider a few of the key issues:

• Outbreaks and issues are usually detected after consumers have already eaten the food. 
• Companies are slow to act– FDA recalls are usually voluntary and their requirements are largely undefined. It takes time to complete a recall– sometimes many months. 
• Food regulation is complicated to formalize and manage; different production stages require different oversight.

So, what is actually being done about this?

Back in 2011, the landmark Food Safety Modernization Act was enacted to enable the FDA to better regulate food growing, harvesting and processing.

Additionally, a rule set in 2022 (set to begin in 2026), requires suppliers to keep records to trace fresh produce so that outbreaks can be sourced back to their origin. 

If funding changes for public health agencies, these efforts will lose their potential for impact. 

This is not enough.

The Food & Beverage (F&B) industry is due for an update

The industry faces a variety of issues that need to be addressed:

• Shrinking talent pool: This is causing an unprecedented loss of trained skilled workers, as the demand for labor grows with a growing number of manually managed processes and tasks. 
  
  
• Aging infrastructure and complex, expensive equipment: The average lifespan of commercial HVAC equipment can last between 8 to 30 years when maintained properly. While other industries have transitioned to cloud-based technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize processes, F&B has not caught up.
  
  
• Accountability is difficult to streamline. With teams working locally across different regions of the U.S. and the globe, companies have a difficult task in holding people accountable for compliance and safety across different facilities, locations and stages of F&B processes. 
  

That’s why we built ATLAS. 

We’re tackling these issues head on, using AI to reduce electricity costs, emissions, and maintain food safety and quality.

By automating many of the manual processes mentioned above, ATLAS improves operational efficiency, reduces risk and opportunities for manual errors, and gives companies peace of mind across the globe. 

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