Page 42 - Food&Drink Magazine October 2018

HYGIENE & SAFETY
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BERRY FACTS
experienced a rise in demand for its product line following the contamination of strawberries.
Eriez says it is offering aggressive pricing options, including ‘try and buys’ for its existing stock, and can also
organise quick shipments of detectors from its global headquarters.
SUPPORT SCARCITY
A&D Australasia, which manufactures weighing and inspection systems, says in one week during the crisis, the company sold the same amount of inspection systems as it had in the previous nine months.
The company said it had to fast track its regular sea freight stock orders from its Tokyo HQ and ship them by air, but has opted not to pass on any additional costs to growers. A&D warns, however, that once farmers have sourced inspection equipment, finding factory-trained technicians to help them deploy these systems could prove challenging. Moreover, incorrect setup or use could cause problems by missing contaminants or rejecting safe product.
“Aside from the obvious commercial impact, the berry industry, and probably fresh produce in general, has to face a rapid learning curve and disruption of adding another type of technology to their existing process,” A&D’s national sales & marketing manager Julian Horsley says.
The company has created a
RISKY BUSINESS
Last month, sewing needles were found in strawberries across Australia and in New Zealand, and many supermarkets, including Coles and Aldi, initially responded responded by pulling strawberries off their shelves.
Much of the damage, however, was perpetuated by copy cat contamination, and last month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison introduced new laws that increase the jail time for people contaminating strawberries from 10 to 15 years, along with a new offence of recklessly contaminating fruit that carries similar jail time.
According to business advisory firm Pitcher Partners, fruit growers and horticulturists should look at the needle-in-strawberry crisis as a wake-up call to check their
risk profiles.
The company’s advisory partner Mark Harrison said Australia’s $500 million strawberry sector, which saw an overnight collapse in its market, had experienced the kind
of crisis few businesses would think to plan for. He warned that although it was not always practical, especially in high volumes, fresh foods might end up having to be scanned or X-rayed.
“That level of scrutiny is already increasing among manufacturers and it might end up being required for fresh produce as well. There will be a significant cost involved,”
he said.
“This just shows that while it
looks on the surface to be a malicious once-off event, a local industry is also susceptible to issues with food security.”
Harrison advises businesses of all kinds to make sure they have cover for this kind of event.
“Sit down and have the conversation with your insurer now, look at your risk profile and have a disaster plan for how you respond to this issue.
“Whether you have a spare finance facility and develop plans for alternate use of product − think through all of it.”
This would include looking at whether new investment is needed to improve security for produce, Harrison said.
A stitch in time
Equipment suppliers are stepping up as Australia’s strawberry producers scramble to implement inspection systems following the needle contamination crisis.
EQUIPMENT suppliers have been working overtime to source equipment and help educate the fresh produce market on their inspection systems options in the wake of the strawberry sabotage crisis in recent weeks.
After sewing needles were found in strawberries (and other types of produce such as apples and bananas) in all six states, as well as in New Zealand, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), has been tasked with investigating supply chain weaknesses leading to the crisis.
The federal government also announced $1 million in funding to assist strawberry farmers to ramp up their food safety processes and inspection capabilities. Prior to the contamination crisis, few if any strawberry packing lines had metal detectors, or any kind of system for seeing foreign objects in the punnets.
Queensland strawberry farmer Leonard Smith of Glass House Mountains was one of the first to confirm he had forked out $30,000 on a metal
detector to help get his fruit back on supermarket shelves.
And he is not the only one taking this step, according to suppliers of inspection systems who say they have been fielding a spike in enquiries.
Processing and packaging equipment supplier Heat and Control says it has been air freighting in additional metal detectors from Ceia in Italy to manage the demand.
“ At the moment we are offering lots of education – that’s our focus right now – to guide producers so they don’t run out and invest in technology today that doesn’t help them outside of this current crisis.”
“The Ceia system supplied by Heat & Control looks tray by tray and can detect an object as little as 0.4mm x 5mm,” head of packaging Robert Marguccio says. “They are based on military metal detectors, in fact you have to walk through one before you meet the US president.”
Eriez is another equipment company that says it is has
short video to help the industry understand the capabilities of the technology.
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
Thermo Fisher Scientific, which was demonstrating its X-ray credentials on strawberries at the Foodtech Packtech show in New Zealand last month, agrees on the importance of education.
42 | Food&Drink business | October 2018 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au