As of last week, more than 3,400 peanut products whose origins were traced to the Peanut Corp. of America had found their way to the recall list compiled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Among the affected items are scores of store brands for which retailers thoughtfully chose manufacturers, or ingredient suppliers for chains that produce private labels themselves.

Despite Wegmans' prudent vendor selection process, several of its store-brand items, including Chocolate Peanut Butter Tarts, Peanut Butter Cookies and Sundae Cones, had to be pulled from shelves due to the risk of salmonella contamination of ingredients that were linked to PCA.

The Rochester, N.Y.-based chain requires that its store-brand manufacturers either be inspected by Wegmans' own quality assurance auditors or be certified against one of four Global Food Safety Initiative-endorsed standards, which include the Safe Quality Food program administered by Food Marketing Institute, Washington. Further, the first shipment of any new Wegmans-brand product is scrutinized to make sure it meets product specifications and food safety requirements. The chain does this by performing independent tests in its kitchen lab or, when necessary, by sending products to an independent lab.

“From then on, Wegmans brand specialist Cathy Morse-Lombard monitors comments of customers about the brand's products, and works with buyers and developers to continually improve,” said Mary Ellen Burris, senior vice president of consumer affairs for Wegmans, in a column.

But what the retailer doesn't do, according to Lombard, is check its supplier's ingredient sources, since doing so would present too arduous a task.

“Ingredient sources can change frequently based on availability and cost,” she said. “It would be impossible for Wegmans to check all ingredient sources.”

Indeed, today's supply chains are convoluted. The weeks that it's taken for news of many affected items to make its way through trading partners and onto the recall list is evidence of that. But when it comes to the safety of foods that come from suppliers downstream, there may be some relief in sight.

Industry groups are hopeful that bills in both the House and Senate could strengthen the authority of the FDA to more effectively monitor the food safety supply with risk-based prevention controls, increased inspections and enhanced traceback and record-keeping. If passed, the two bills — called the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act and the Safe FEAST Act (Safe Food Enforcement, Assessment, Standards and Targeting Act of 2009) — would also give the FDA authority to mandate food recalls and expand access to records in a food emergency.

But regardless of whether or not the bills pass, retailers will continue to play an important role in strengthening the safety of foods manufactured by third parties, John Dix, president of Business Development Index, Columbus, Ohio, told SN.

He advises supermarkets to build into their contracts with store-brand manufacturers the requirement that every lot of ingredient shipped from a supplier to the manufacturer be certified salmonella-free.