The key to strengthening the American food safety system is preventing contamination, President and CEO David Mackay said during an appearance on Capitol Hill Thursday, March 19.

President and CEO David Mackay testified before a congressional subcommittee looking into the safety of America's food supply.

"In the U.S. food safety system, we believe the key to enhancement is a renewed focus on prevention, so that potential sources of contamination are identified and properly addressed before they become actual food safety problems," said David, who was among the leaders of several U.S. food companies who testified at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's investigations subcommittee.

The hearing examined industry's role in protecting the safety of the U.S. food supply in the wake of the recent salmonella outbreak that was traced back to peanut ingredients made by Peanut Corporation of America (PCA).

• Establish a single food safety authority under the Department of Health and Human Services, supported by a Food Safety Advisory Council, to strengthen and maximize the efficiency of regulatory oversight.

• Establish an International Food Protection Training Institute to train government and industry inspectors.

• Improve the current Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which have not been updated in more than 20 years.

• Develop food safety plans for every food manufacturing facility that are based on a thorough risk assessment and that contain verification systems and preventative controls.

• Require annual Food and Drug Administration inspections of facilities that produce high-risk foods.

• Require test results and corrective actions to be disclosed to the FDA at the annual inspection.

• Develop consistent food manufacturing audit standards and accredit auditors.

• Provide FDA with mandatory recall authority to expedite necessary recalls.

• Review possibilities for enhancing traceability standards.

David also provided the committee members with insight into what our company is doing to enhance our own processes going forward. He stressed that one of our K Values is "We Have the Hunger and Humility to Learn."

"In that spirit, and as a result of what we learned from this unfortunate situation, we have taken several immediate actions to enhance our food safety efforts," he explained. "We established new Kellogg cross-functional teams, including quality, food safety and engineering groups, to audit suppliers of high-risk ingredients, and have completed these onsite audits of our peanut and peanut paste ingredient suppliers."

He continued, "We are also requiring these suppliers to conduct environmental testing and monitoring in their plants, which we believe from our own practices is pivotal in identifying, assessing and correcting potential contamination before it becomes a major food safety problem. And we are strengthening our internal training and education across our supply chain."

Commitment to quality, cooperation

David reminded the committee of Kellogg's longstanding commitment to upholding the highest quality in our operations - saying that it's what our consumers and customers expect and what we strive to deliver. He also expressed our company's deep regret that the salmonella outbreak occurred and that our products were involved.

"We apologize to our customers and consumers, especially to those who may have become ill from one of our products," he said. "We, just like members of this subcommittee, federal and state regulators, medical professionals and the general public, are deeply disturbed by the events we have learned of over the past two months with respect to PCA. These events have had a very significant impact on our consumers and our company, and we regret any role our products may have played in the salmonella outbreak."

He added, "PCA has essentially poisoned the well for an industry in which most companies are honest and trustworthy and pride themselves on delivering safe, wholesome products that consumers expect and deserve."

In accompanying written testimony provided to the committee, David detailed Kellogg's response to the situation and recall efforts - which, he noted, ultimately involved more than 7 million cases of product at a cost to our company of about $65 million to $70 million. Significant staffing and resources were deployed to quickly trace our products, notify and inform customers and the general public, and execute the recalls.

"Since we first learned of the PCA investigation, Kellogg has worked closely and cooperatively with FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local agricultural and health authorities in their investigation of PCA and potentially impacted Kellogg products," David said in the written testimony.

Additionally, in both his live and written testimony, David expressed Kellogg's firm commitment to working together with Congress, the food industry and other stakeholders to evaluate and advance the nine enhancements our company has recommended for strengthening the U.S. food safety system.