Partner Nathan Beaver was quoted in an Inside Health Policy article, “Advocate: FDA Should Make Food Companies List Retailers in Recalls,” about a food safety advocate’s demand that food companies be required to disclose the names of retailers involved in recalls.
Even if the FDA did require the food industry to disclose the names of retailers, Beaver said that, due to the complex relationship between manufacturers and distributors, pinpointing accurate retailer information is difficult even for the industry.
He went on to describe a situation in which it would be difficult to trace information back to retailers. In his example, a spice supplier who detects trace amounts of undisclosed peanuts in its product would have to work through the supply chain to identify which other manufacturers it had sold the spice to and then identify which retailers and distributers had been sold the spice.
