Contamination scare leading to food recalls in Canada

[htc***]

FYI. We have a lot recall laterly. What wrong ?

1) http://news.sympatico.ctv.ca/Home/ContentPosting?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20100305%2frec alls_120305&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True

2) http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/recaltoce.shtml

[froggy]

Outsourcing- you can loose a bit of quality control on things that way

Lack of competition in some fields- If no one is there to compete against you, you sometimes get complacent. When you get complacement quality control can go down hill.

Finally I don't think that there are that many more recalls than before I just think that because of the recent ones we've had, especially the maple leaf one where people died, companies are now realizing that it might be better for their public image to come clean, than to hope nothing happens/ride it out. Also we are living in a time and age where consumers are a lot more savvy and scrutinize things more than they might have even 20 years ago.

[JMAK74]

Deregulation doesn't help either - "We'll monitor ourselves and at a better cost", the cry of the business owner/lobby group, about government regulations on when things and how things are to be done (i.e. how many times and when machines are to be sterlized) - they'll 'miss' something because it holds up the making of... get ready for it... money. The airline industry is a prime example of deregulation and what can happen.

Another factor - where did they get the base ingredients from? Think back to the Menu recall of about 2/3 years ago for canned pet food.

[Noisy Crow]

Outsourcing- you can loose a bit of quality control on things that way



Lack of competition in some fields- If no one is there to compete against you, you sometimes get complacent. When you get complacement quality control can go down hill.

Those two points together are pretty much the root of the problem, except you have the 2nd point backwards.

Keep in mind that "outsourcing" means anything a company does not make themselves -- which for food companies is most of their ingredients.

Today food-production is an enormous world-wide web of interconnected companies. Food companies do not grow their own corn, refine their own surgar, raise their own chickens etc. They buy their supplies on the world market, and there is intense competion among suppliers. Margins are razor thin, and some suppliers (or their greedy employees) cut corners to increase profit.

The other factor in all of this is that we, the consumers, keep pushing to buy things cheaper and cheaper all the time. This is the primary reason profit margins are so thin, and is also the reason that food companies have turned into enormous conglomerates. Only through purchasing massive amounts of ingredients at the lowest prices from anywhere they can get them are these companies able to turn a profit while keeping the price to the consumer so low. Smaller companies can't compete -- they either make no profit or have to charge prices that are a bit higher -- today's consumers are all about low cost. (I should note that even when smaller companies can turn a profit... it is usually not enough to keep their investors happy. Big companies make nore profit... guess where investors take their money, and then the big companies buy out the smaller ones. Very Borg-like).

If you are interested in this sort of stuff I suggest you read "Cheap" by Ellen Ruppel Shell. Link: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Cheap-Shell-Ruppel/9781594202155-item.html