The Food Safety Perspective of Hervé Gomichon, Expert in Food Safety and Quality with Private Label Experience

Hervé Gomichon is an international expert in food safety, quality, and sustainability. His career includes 20 years at Carrefour, where he was « in charge of food safety, quality and sustainability » and « mainly in charge of private label development, stores hygiene and food safety for the global level ».

When developing a private label product, he notes that the main challenge is « to create the emotional link between the brand and the consumer ». This « emotional link » is crucial for obtaining consumer preference, and it means avoiding « any risk, any critics, any issue, any crisis ».

From his perspective, one of the worst risks for producers of private label products is the Listeria case. He explains: « Since 25 years, we have crisis over crisis over crisis and the customer cannot understand why we didn't solve this subject already ». Hervé Gomichon recalls the repetitive history of Listeria: « We discover Listeria, we clean the factory, we recall the product, we destroy the product, we reopen the factory and produce again. And sometimes we discover a new Listeria case few months later ». This cycle is « very risky » because « the consumer cannot understand that we create a new crisis over a crisis ».

He highlights the root of the problem: Listeria appears « because we don't know exactly where they come from, what their life is like, and if they live in the factory or come with raw material ». These questions are crucial because if it’s « raw material, it is an issue of the process », but « if they live in factory, it is an issue of the factory itself ». Therefore, answering these questions is essential.

Hervé Gomichon praises « the innovation of GENE-UP® TYPER », developed by bioMérieux, a « very famous and well-known company ». He emphasizes that it is now possible to identify Listeria and trace « the history of the Listeria family », including its parent strain and mutations. This innovation allows experts to determine whether Listeria originates from inside the factory or from raw materials.

According to Gomichon, this represents a significant step forward: « I think they have no choice because this is an innovation able to solve definitively the Listeria case inside factory ». He goes further: « If they don't use it, they could be responsible for a new case because they have a solution to prevent Listeria risk ». For him, GENE-UP®  TYPER provides a robust science-based solution that industries must adopt to prevent future crises effectively.