Kellogg's Mackay to Make Food Safety Recommendations

WASHINGTON — David Mackay, Kellogg president and chief executive officer, will call for several improvements to the U.S. food safety system today during the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing “The Salmonella Outbreak: The Role of Industry in Protecting the Nation’s Food.”

The recommendation that a single food safety authority be formed under Health and Human Services that will give accountability to one agency leader for science, research, surveillance and inspectional units and staffs, with support from a Food Safety Advisory Council, is outlined in a copy of Mackay’s statement, obtained by SN.

He is also proposing the requirement that every food company conduct a risk analysis and document preventative controls, verification systems and testing results in a food safety plan subject to regular Food and Drug Administration review.

Among his other suggestions: — Annual FDA inspections of facilities producing high-risk products. — Work with industry and government to align around a single food safety standard for evaluating facilities, with appropriate training and accreditation of auditors and auditing firms. — Ensuring that the FDA has the right mix of intervention and enforcement powers.

More than 7 million cases of Kellogg product were recalled due to the Peanut Corp. of America contamination, at a cost of approximately $65 million-$70 million, he said.

As a result, Kellogg has “established new cross-functional Kellogg audit teams, including quality, food safety and materials management groups to audit suppliers of high-risk ingredients, and have already completed on-site audits of our peanut paste ingredient suppliers,” said Mackay in the statement. “We are requiring suppliers to conduct environmental testing and monitoring in their plants to assist in identifying, assessing and correcting potential contamination before it becomes a food safety problem. We are also strengthening our internal training and education across our supply chain.”

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