Short of putting warning labels on their products, food processors need to balance between the safety steps they take and the expectations of customers and consumers.

While the intent is admirable, the problem for food and beverage processors is judging which of those remedies will yield the biggest food-safety bang for the buck. Zero-tolerance policies would be fine if processors had unlimited budgets. Unfortunately, there are limits on what they can spend to advance food safety, so processors have to be become very savvy to avoid getting burned.