In a bid to keep its produce safe in the minds of its customers, Dole Food Company has ramped up its testing and tracking of produce to prevent any more outbreaks of E.coli like the one that killed three people last year and caused 200 others to get sick.
Talking to Reuters, Eric Schwartz, Dole's president for worldwide vegetables, said that every acre of spinach, and other vegetables to be marketed under the Dole label will be tested. If any problem is discovered the plants from that area won't be included in Dole's processing chain.
Another move Dole is taking to protect the produce is putting an electronic system in place that can trace within 30 feet where any specific batch of spinach was grown.
With this weeks' news that more contaminated spinach testing positive for salmonella was found in California's Metz Fresh LLC products, it's imperative the food companies have strict measures in place to protect the food supply.
This is one area where losing consumer confidence could destroy a company. If you can't trust the food you eat, you surely can't trust the company providing it.
From the toy problems and food supply problems we've been experiencing lately, we as businesses will need to be much more proactive in our preventative measures we employ to product our customers.
Just look at the damage done to Jet Blue when they didn't have contingency plans in place to take care of their customers when the weather forced them to wait.
I think many companies need to get a higher sense of urgency in protecting their brands than they ever have before in the area of safety and customer service.
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