4 Food Companies Join Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness

W.K. Kellogg, Kellanova, National Restaurant Assoc., and International Dairy Foods Association have joined the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness, which is a program of Stop Foodborne Illness (STOP).

This multi-industry initiative's goal is to improve food safety culture across the supply chain by bringing together leading food companies and consumers impacted by food safety failures to effect positive change.

"Safety needs to be a central value of our food system," said Vanessa Coffman, Alliance Program director. "We know a lot of companies are already doing the right thing. The Alliance is a unique collaborative where companies are working together to advance their food safety cultures and those in their supply chains through best practice sharing. People continue to become gravely ill from food and we're trying something new to drive those numbers down."

Launched in 2018 with 10 companies, the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness now has more than 20 industry partners, including the aforementioned new members. Current Alliance members include the American Frozen Food Institute, Cargill, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Conagra Brands, Consumer Brands Association, Costco Wholesale, Empirical Foods, The Hershey Company, JBS, Maple Leaf Foods, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, TreeHouse Foods, Walmart, Wawa, and Wegmans.

No other group focuses on collaboration between food companies and consumers regarding food safety culture. And no other organization like STOP exists to support those impacted by food safety failures. In its 30th year, STOP strives to prevent illness and death from foodborne pathogens by supporting and representing survivors of foodborne illness, advancing public understanding of it, and supporting public policies and industry practices that strengthen prevention.

"The Alliance offers an award-winning innovative online food safety culture toolkit for small- and medium-sized companies. So far, more than 600 companies across 81 countries have accessed this free resource, Coffman said.

STOP and the Alliance continue engaging with farmers, food companies, regulators, academia, consumers, and food associations to enhance food safety culture measures beyond minimum standards and regulations.