Process Control

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There is a growing trend of pathogenic outbreaks being traced to processed fruits, leading to industry players implementing more diligent control processes. This article discusses methodologies and regulations around fruit washing and sanitizing.

The Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Meeting on Microbial Risk Assessment (JEMRA) on the pre- and post-harvest control of Campylobacter in poultry meat was convened to review recent data and evidence, and to provide scientific advice on control measures for thermo-tolerant C. jejuni and C. coli in the broiler production chain.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has published a guidance document for the Pathogen Reduction Monitoring Program (PRMP) for Salmonella and Campylobacter in raw poultry, which provides a means to verify that overall food safety control measures are effective in reducing Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination in raw poultry and poultry products to maximum pathogen limits described by CIFA.

Researchers funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are developing a new method of curing meats that would use an amino acid instead of sodium nitrite, addressing food safety concerns about the negative health effects associated with nitrite additives.

Flour mills produce a "ready-to-cook" product. The most severe food safety hazards at flour mills are physical and include metal, wood, pests, and other items. A variety of equipment is used in an enclosed system to prevent physical and other contamination of the product.

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.