Wonderful Washington

Newly added polymerase chain reaction-based clinical diagnosis is both enhancing and complicating public health efforts in Washington, Dr. Duchin notes. “As a result, there are more reports of foodborne illness than before this technology was implemented,” he says. “But, due to budget constraints, there’s been no increase in our team members, so we are all busier working harder than ever before. In addition, non-culture-based diagnostic testing means we don’t have organisms of epidemiological value to study during outbreaks.”

King County has taken recent steps to improve the foodborne disease disclosure process, Dr. Duchin reports. “The public and the media can click on ‘communicable diseases’ on our website and access information rapidly,” he says.

There are also efforts underway in King County to improve the consistency and communication to the public of restaurant inspections that include peer review and window placards that show inspection history, Dr. Duchin adds.

Processors
A positive force for food safety in Washington and the entire Pacific Northwest Region is the Northwest Food Processors Association (NFPA). Organized in 1914 as a canners association, the NWFPA supports the needs of the Pacific Northwest food processing industry (Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) in a variety of food processing and packaging segments, namely fruits, vegetables, seafood, dairy, bakeries, specialty, juices and more, according to David McGiverin, NWFPA president.

“The NWFPA’s membership base includes companies with operations or headquarters in the Pacific Northwest,” McGiverin relates. “We have members who are regional companies, national and multinational, and locally run family businesses.”

NWFPA is one of the nation’s largest food processing trade associations, with current membership totaling some 160 processor companies, including more than 40 based in Washington, McGiverin says. NWFPA also boasts more than 350 supplier members. “Supplier members include equipment manufacturers and distributors, ingredient and raw material providers, as well as professional service providers like bankers and attorneys.” McGiverin elaborates.

McGiverin says a real boost to NWFPA’s consumer-focused food safety efforts since 2013 has been the organization’s offering of free membership to small companies with less than $1 million in annual revenue. “Our board saw the value of welcoming small microprocessors to have access to all of the educational and training programs we offer,” he relates. “Since maintaining food safety is not easy and retailers’ buying policies can vary relative to new products, we believe our programs benefit small processors by lowering any barriers to food safety expertise they may have.”

Another strength of the NWFPA is its Operations and Technical Affairs Committee, a standing committee of experts that reviews the latest food safety trends in the early stages. “Using that data, we then collaborate with our partners like WSDA and Washington State University (WSU) to ensure our members have the latest and most relevant information and training to meet their food safety needs,” says Brian Campbell, NWFPA’s director of food safety and policy.

To further its efforts, each January the NWFPA holds an annual expo in Portland, Oregon. “The expo serves corporate operations and technical affairs leadership with robust programming related to food safety and regulatory affairs,” Campbell relates.

Campbell adds that, in Washington, the governor maintains five goal councils, likened to a cabinet, each with a different goal. In February 2016, McGiverin and Campbell attended a meeting of Goal Council 4, Healthy and Safe Communities, during which a topic discussed was work to increase the percentage of high-risk food processing facilities successfully completing risk-based inspections from 92 percent to 95 percent by 2020.

“Providing education and outreach programs along with having a strong inspection program at WSDA works to ensure our association members have successful businesses and our food supply is safe.” Campbell says.