Shawn Stevens is a global food safety lawyer and founding member of Food Industry Counsel LLC, the only law firm in the world that represents the food industry exclusively. Mr. Stevens works throughout the country and abroad with food industry clients helping them protect their brand by reducing food safety risk, complying with FDA and USDA food safety regulations, managing recalls, and defending high-profile food-borne illness claims. You can read more about Shawn on our HPP Summit speakers page.
Q: From a liability perspective, what is the main food safety “blind spot” processors have today?
A: All of the most recent recalls involve large amounts of product, being produced over long periods of time, and being contaminated with pathogens intermittently at exceedingly low levels. No one saw it coming. Thus, the largest blind spot facing processors today is that processors don’t really know or understand the microbiological profile of their facility. Processors will sample a little, but not enough to see what is really going on. FDA is coming to sample every facility extensively, so processors need to sample aggressively sample, understand their microbiological profile, and correct any problems before FDA arrives.
Q: Which missteps might cause an executive team dealing with a food outbreak to be facing litigation?
A: Not performing extensive sampling, as discussed above. If they wait for FDA to come and sample, and FDA finds that a positive sample from the drain in their facility matches a human illness that occurred six months ago, the company will not only be facing a massive recall, but also lawsuits from anyone who became ill.
Q: Moreover, what might expose them to criminal charges rather than civil liability?
Under the new FDA/DOJ enforcement policy, any product that is linked to a human illness can expose the company at fault to a criminal investigation.
Q: How, if at all, do you think the change in the Oval Office is affecting government audits or investigations?
No change. Since the election, I have seen FDA’s public tone soften. But, on the ground and in the trenches, when FDA is inspecting facilities and swabbing the environment, FDA is as aggressive as ever.
Q: How is FSMA changing the picture? Do you see more collaboration through the supply chain? More blame-shifting?
Industry is still trying to figure it out. I don’t see any blame-shifting, per se. Rather, I think industry is trying to figure out where the boundaries are and what they will be responsible for. I think, right now, companies are mostly working together.
Q: From your vantage point as a lawyer, what recommendations do you have for food and beverage makers when they’re setting up relationships with outside HPP service partners?
HPP is a great technology for an ever-expanding number of products. Find ways to embrace the technology and use it, if you can.
The 2017 HPP Summit speaker presentations have now been added to our website for your reference. Continue to check back for additional Q&A sessions coming soon.
