point of contamination and the culprit(s); detect
any remaining needles in batches of strawberries;
restore consumer confidence and thereby
support the industry.
Could this random act have reasonably been
anticipated or prevented? Yes, and no.
In general terms, international standards for quality
and other management systems have been
moving away from a compliance focus towards
‘risk-based thinking’ over the past decade. This
is intended to encourage organisations to become
proactive rather than reactive, and to plan
for significant risks that might impact on quality,
health and safety, environmental impact and
other key areas.
Since 2015, this approach has been written
into Annex SL, the common structure covering
many ISO management system standards. For
the food industry in particular, there is additionally
a long history of intentional contamination
incidents involving food and drink supply chains.
These have involved a wide range of physical,
chemical, and biological contaminants (including
salmonella, cyanide and ricin).
Some are associated with war crimes, such as
contaminating communal water sources, while
a great many have been personally or politically
16 NOVEMBER 2018