This year, five people died in the United States due to E. coli-infected romaine lettuce. New Zealand is culling nearly 130,000 cows to stave off a Mycoplasma bovis epidemic. South Africa is still suffering the effects of the listeriosis outbreak that claimed more than 200 lives since the beginning of 2017.

This will continue to haunt the industry, especially because it can quite easily be repeated if there’s a similar slip in maintaining food safety and hygiene. The rapid and deadly spread of South Africa’s listeria infection is a harsh reminder of the responsibility that befalls everyone involved in the food value chain. With nearly 18 months passing between discovery to being declared under control by the health minister, it’s also clear that these events take some time to be resolved.

Adopting a glass-half-full attitude to this latest crisis, one could consider the heightened focus on hygiene in agriculture as a positive outcome. The listeriosis outbreak is a timely reminder that the food supply chain is constantly under attack from outside threats. In this, there is a lesson for the rest of the industry, writes Emma Corder, Nilfisk South Africa Country Manager.

And this applies not only to times of crisis, but to the day-to-day, seemingly mundane, operational activities that make up the working lives of people throughout the supply chain.

According to engineeringnews.co.za, all the recent examples carry a stark reminder to all other sectors that no-one in the supply chain can let standards slip if we all want to avoid value destruction.

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