In 2015, The Bart Ingredients Company issued a recall due to the possible presence of almond in a batch of cumin.
Today, this incident remains the only recall the Food Standards Agency has rescinded.
The Bart team were adamant the results didn’t make sense and called for further investigation.
And they were right - a closer look revealed that it was a false positive triggered by mahaleb, which is from the same ‘Prunus’ family of trees and shrubs as almond.
On my recent trip to its Bristol site, this was the story Gideon Ashworth, technical director at Bart Ingredients led with. Why? Because it demonstrates the company’s confidence and technical know-how; and according to Ashworth, helped to put the business’s expertise “on the map”.
The incident also prompted the creation of its food defence team which manages the upstream supply chains – focusing on food safety, authenticity and quality.
“This team is responsible for looking out for hazards and risks and sharing their knowledge not only within the company but with Bart customers,” he explained.
But it’s not just the defence team who are keeping a close eye on safety and quality; food integrity is embedded into the firm’s fabric. A multitude of regular touchpoints and meetings are held across departments so everyone is constantly communicating and proactively monitoring and responding to risk.
As Ashworth said, he has no time for people to be kept in the dark or fed nonsense: “I don’t want any mushrooms in my team. Everybody should be aware of the challenges and learnings to overcome them.”
Integrity in a very complex supply chain
Herbs and spices are known for their complex supply chains but even so Ashworth notes there is a clear misunderstanding in the ‘make-up’ of products such as turmeric or paprika.
“When someone says they’re buying directly from farmers…it doesn’t really happen [in this sector]. A jar of paprika could contain paprika milled from 20 farms, the flesh could be from Spain but the seed may be from Peru.
“It’s quite often described as complex as a sector, it’s complex because of the amount of ingredients that we’re managing, the number of countries that we’re sourcing from.”
But that doesn’t mean you can’t have traceability; and Bart Ingredients has worked very hard to ensure its products remain authentic and safe.
“If we understand our supply chains and how they’re managing their own supply chains, the complexity might still be there, but the understanding is much better and that increases our capabilities around food safety.”
‘We must think differently’
But understanding supply chains is getting harder for everyone. Over the last few years, the F&B industry has faced a number of challenges, including Brexit, Covid, geopolitics, and severe weather.
“We are solid as an industry, but we do need to evolve the way that we think,” Ashworth said.
Two major risks at the top of Ashworth’s mind are the Super El Niño and the new SPS rules.
Citing former US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, he said Bart Ingredients is focusing on ‘known unknowns’ as it looks to mitigate future risk.
“The industry cannot say the Super El Niño is coming and everything going to be awful because that’s simply not true. We don’t know how the monsoons are going to impact crops. We know that it’s going to have an impact, we just don’t know how…yet.”
Ashworth said this new world necessitates a new approach.
“We have to think outside the box but within a reasonable remit to say ‘we think there might be a risk here’; compared to 10 years ago when we didn’t know these things were happening or these things weren’t happening.”
While climate change will certainly have an impact on herbs and spices, Ashworth’s team is also anticipating the potential risks posed by regulatory change.
There’s a big challenge ahead of us and the element of compounding issues is not something we’re quite used to.
Gideon Ashworth, technical director, The Bart Ingredients Company
“Following Brexit, we now have 400 different pieces of legislation. With the new SPS rules, we will have 400 different pieces of legislation which will diverge overnight.”
The new SPS regulations, which will see the UK moving closer to the EU, will benefit the sector by easing red tape, but it could also introduce unintended consequences.
Ashworth pointed to oregano as one crop which is likely to be affected.
The majority of oregano contains a naturally occurring toxin called Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids (PA). In the EU, there are maximum limits for PAs; if we are to align with their standards, Ashworth warns that as much as 20% of oregano would be compliant.
“There isn’t enough [oregano] anyway,” he said, stressing the potential for further supply issues.
“With the current limits in place and what we know, there are going to be supply issues.”
That strain could lead to shortages as well as an increased risk of fraud driven by new motivations.
“Yes, people are still looking to make a quick buck or increase the value of particular crop, but they might just be looking to maintain supply contracts,” Ashworth elaborated.
“If you’re under contract with a supplier and obliged to supply oregano that meets these new requirements; what are we then encouraging in terms of bad behaviour?”
How to plan for the unknown
But how you plan for known unknowns when you don’t know what will happen?
According to Ashworth it all “comes down to your resilience strategy”.
Alongside its robust technical huddles, Bart Ingredients has also been investing into its own (albeit modest) lab. Essentially, this complements the work its third-party lab partners do and enables it to react quickly if needed.
This lab includes equipment that can check colour, density and authenticity. Its NIR machine, for example, has amassed thousands of data – a project which the firm started in 2018, and which Ashworth maintains is the envy of others.
With this machine, a sample of product can be scanned and assessed within minutes, with the kit capable of spotting whether anything unexpected is present.
The lab also has a storage area where samples are kept – from raw ingredients to fully packaged end products, as well as loose packaging. The drawers are filled with a variety of things dating back 12 months, allowing the team to compare new products with historical items to ensure consistency.
“Everything we’ve learnt over the last few years is demonstrating why resilience planning is becoming more and more important,” Ashworth continued.
“Some companies are planning 10 years out, some are planning six months in advance – it really depends on what commodities you’re dealing with, your own capabilities as a business, and the size of your company.”
Whilst there are many variables and the precise effects of events such as the Super El Niño are impossible to predict with complete accuracy, as Ashworth told Food Manufacture, what is possible is to “anticipate” these challenges and ensure “strong communication” across the supply chain, so that when things do happen, the industry can respond fast.
