Process Control

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Proving food safety is a monumental challenge, if not an impossibility. However, with the appropriate tools and techniques one can confirm, with a high degree of statistical confidence, the effectiveness of a preventive control for reducing a specified hazard to an acceptable level or concentration that is consistent with achieving public health objectives.  

Innovative packaging technologies that contribute to food safety include, but are not limited to, antimicrobial packaging, controlled-release packaging, nanotechnology, and biosensors. These technologies can aid in the control of not only spoilage microorganisms, which make the food product undesirable (but not necessarily unsafe), but also pathogenic organisms, which can cause illness and even death in humans. In the current economy, it may be difficult to make the decision to transition from a traditional packaging solution to an alternative; however, when product food safety is jeopardized and consumers are at potential risk, the food industry must do everything it can to prevent adverse scenarios.

Meal kits use a direct-to-consumer model of delivering perishable, pre-measured ingredients for pre-selected recipes that are then used to prepare and cook meals at home. Meal kits are likely to contain a variety of foods that may grow or be contaminated by pathogenic bacteria. Meal kit manufacturers also often repackage ingredients into plain or branded packaging, which can result in the consumption of unexpected ingredients or allergens.

Biotech group Novozymes is making the change from classic filtration of its industrial enzyme liquids to a raslysation system from Danish company Lyras, which inactivates microbial contaminants in liquid foods using ultraviolet (UV) technology. Raslysation can be used as a substitute for the pasteurization of foods such as brine, whey, juice, iced tea, and many other liquids.  

Two reports by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) have advised the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA’s FSIS) on microbial testing of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods and the safety of recycled water in food production, respectively.

Food processing facilities experience many different changeovers. Rapid changeover, or Single-Minute Exchange of Die, can be beneficial to increasing efficiencies in a food processing facility. Reduction in downgrade or defects and an increase in employee communication and morale are several benefits of a well-oiled changeover process.

The Petrochem Group, a major distributor in Ireland, has built a relationship with Bürkert to deliver valves and instrumentation components for the dairy sector with optimum performance and value.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has determined the food safety of plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) when produced by a recycling process called Poly Recycling for use in food contact materials.

BASF SE and StePac Ltd. have joined forces to create the next generation of sustainable packaging specifically for the fresh produce sector, using chemically recycled plastics.

Failure to plan, design, implement and upkeep good Safety Management Systems (FSMSs)along with a strong, positive food safety culture often leads to compromised food safety and subsequent foodborne illness outbreaks at food processing organizations. This phenomenon is observed with a much higher incidence in medium-and small-sized food companies. In this article, ice cream listeriosis outbreak case studies provide context for the importance of PRPs, GMPs, and process control in preventing foodborne illness outbreaks.