Fresh Direct

Dear Customer,

Those of you familiar with my scribblings on this page will possibly be wondering if a good rant is not overdue given the recent lethal outbreak of E. coli in northern Germany and the farcical scrambling of authorities to lay the blame on any doorstep bar their own. If so, you’re dead right!

Before I start I would like to say that I feel very sorry for the poor individuals who lost their lives as a result of this infection and for the plight of the loved ones they have left behind. Of more than 3,000 people who were taken ill over 30 have died and a further 100 have long-term kidney damage. Yes it is sad, but the fact is that during 2011 over 50 Europeans will die falling off cliffs, 43 will be killed by insect stings, 60 will be killed by lightning and a further 48 will lose their lives by diving into shallow water. To really put it into perspective, almost 400 will die in accidental electrocutions while over 1200 will be killed falling down stairs. These fatalities are equally tragic, but why is there no press hysteria concerning them? I’ll give you the answer. Money. Pure and simple. 

On day 1 of the outbreak, when it became clear that the bacterium was particularly virulent, the German government was quick to point any blame away from their own country. It wouldn’t do for this unfortunate state of affairs to have an effect on their domestic exports. Poor old Spanish cucumbers got the blame. The press and media, whose nostrils are always finely tuned to any whiff of panic for their own economic benefit, quickly worked themselves into a frenzy and soon E. coli was getting more hype than Andy Murray’s latest Wimbledon attempt. As accusations and counter-accusations flowed between governments the press fanned the flames; soon we had a feedback loop that would have done justice to a global pandemic. Within hours it became evident that the press had managed to penetrate the international psyche when sick humour began to appear on websites such as the predictably-named Sikipedia, “I didn’t climb all the way up the food-chain just to get killed by a friggin’ cucumber”, - you get the idea.

Later on day 1 the Russians decided to get in on the act, firstly banning all imported fruit and vegetables from Spain and Germany then threatening to do the same with regard to produce from the rest of the EU. Why, you may ask, would the Russians enter so decisively into the debate? Once again, money. Spain and Germany are two of Europe’s biggest food exporters, and how dearly the Russians would love to have a chunk of their market share. It so happens that Russia is bulging with abundant produce at this time of year, so whooping up a reaction against western European goods is nothing more than a cynical marketing ploy. As a result, Spanish exporters ground to a standstill, at great expense. What would the Russians have said had the outbreak occurred in winter, when their country produces ...? That’s right, nothing. Likewise an outbreak in the likes of Liechtenstein would have been unlikely to have elicited a response.

By day 2, after it had become clear that the outbreak had nothing to do with Spain or its cucumbers, the Germans were still defending their wicket. Now turning their attention to Denmark and the Netherlands they demanded that tests for E. coli be carried out on producers and suppliers there. Even when these proved negative it is not clear how long the xenophobic finger-pointing might have continued had not the source finally been traced to their own backyard, an organic beansprout grower in Bienenbuettel, Lower Saxony. I feel sorry for the poor guy running this facility – he was probably whistling on his way to work one fine sunny recent morning just before the crottie really hit the rotors and his world came crashing down. We may speculate that the organic and beansprout farming industries respectively are currently feeling the backlash of this revelation and if you’re thinking of opening a little venture growing organic beansprouts anytime soon, don’t. By the way, nobody yet seems to have any idea how the E. coli got into the Saxony farm…

In the immediate aftermath of this fiasco, the EU has paid over 200 million euro (yes, fellow-taxpayer, that’s your money and mine) in compensation to farmers for their loss of earnings, a figure which probably falls short of their combined losses. Will any lessons have been learned? Hell no. You can be sure that the whole circus will be back in town when another outbreak occurs a few years down the line. 

Here at Fresh Direct our advanced due diligence procedures including full product traceability ensured that we avoided most of the fallout, and our main expense was limited to a few man-hours spent reassuring customers of the safety of our products.   

Meanwhile contributions to Sikipedia and its ilk continue unabashed. “Health officials have advised consumers in all countries to refrain from eating cucumbers, lettuce or tomatoes… Americans are claiming to have been preparing for this event for years.” Whoops, almost smiled there.

Regards,

David Burns, Managing Director.