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Food Safety Magazine

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August/September 2022

Food recalls and leveraging recall insurance policies; control strategies for Clostridium botulinum in fresh-cut produce; control strategies for and the sources of Salmonella in poultry production; food safety considerations for sustainable packaging; food safety culture through employee wellbeing; risk-based food safety systems; people, programs, and hygienic design in sanitation; understanding "adulteration" in the age of smarter food safety and whole genome sequencing; setting microbiological performance standards for food safety; and more!

Features

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baby chicks

A Critical Look at Reducing the Risk of Salmonella from Poultry—Part 1

There is a need to address Salmonella at pre-harvest, in addition to the current practice of minimizing the risk during processing
Harshavardhan Thippareddi Ph.D. Manpreet Singh Ph.D.
August 15, 2022

Salmonella prevalence has decreased significantly in the past three decades due to processing changes, but human illness cases from Salmonella have not decreased proportionally. To understand and eventually reduce the risk of salmonellosis from poultry meat, it is necessary to understand the poultry production system, the introduction of the microorganism into the poultry ecosystem (as well as its gastrointestinal tract), the sources of Salmonella during production, and, subsequently, strategies to control or reduce the risk from this microorganism at both the pre-and post-harvest stages.


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Food safety

Anatomy of a Recall—Best Practices

An often-misunderstood resource can minimize the negative impact and expense of a recall—your recall insurance policy
Peg Dorn Jen Pino-Gallagher
July 24, 2022

Even with the right prep work, operations with the best sanitation, pest control, preventive maintenance, manufacturing practices, and food defense can experience a recall. This article establishes the background on recalls in the U.S. and offers a look at the behind-the-scenes activity of a food safety recall, including best practices, necessary steps, and tips for communication. It also explores an often-misunderstood resource that can minimize the negative impact and expense of a recall—your recall insurance policy.
 


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Columns

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world graphic

Global Food Safety Culture: North America

North America's food safety culture is characterized by diversity of thought; a proactive, risk-based approach; and high adaptability
Lone Jespersen, Ph.D. John David Sophie Tongyu Wu Ph.D.
August 15, 2022

Panelists Christian Blyth (Pathogen Specialist, 3M Canada), Marie Tanner (Senior Vice President of Quality, Dairy Farmers of America), and Lone Jespersen, Ph.D. (Cultivate SA) discuss three features that are prominent in North America's food safety culture: diversity of thought, proactive risk-based approach, and high adaptability. 


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sustainable packaging decisions

When It Comes to Safe, Sustainable Packaging, What is Job No. 1?

The concept of food safety as the primary element in sustainable packaging decisions must logically flow through an organization from the top down
Robert (Bob) M. Lilienfeld
August 15, 2022

Recyclable. Recycled content. Compostable. Made from bio-materials. Which of these makes for the safest, most sustainable package? These can be misleading questions, especially when it comes to food packaging. Many sustainable packaging goals and trends can affect food safety work. Also, the concept of food safety as the primary element in sustainable packaging decisions must logically flow through an organization from the top down, through the key relevant vertical groups.


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Food Safety Culture

Food Safety Culture: Start with Your Team’s Well-Being

Tia Glave & Jill Stuber
August 15, 2022

To lead from the local level for food safety, top executives must empower and authorize leaders to solve issues like food safety culture. The technical food safety team is best situated for this task. To build a sustainable food safety culture, it is essential to start with shifting and building the mindset of the technical leadership and honoring the well-being of this team. 


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workers at food processing plant

Focusing Ahead—Processors' Priorities for the Near Term

Food processors are now focusing on projects and priorities put on hold during the pandemic, including maintaining or adding to food safety certifications
Bob Ferguson
August 15, 2022

With the COVID-19 pandemic (hopefully) solidly in the rearview mirror, we wanted to find out what projects and initiatives food companies are focusing on for the rest of this year and into 2023. We heard from more than 200 food processors in every major category. They reported a wide-ranging wish list of projects and priorities, with improving their food safety culture, more training, improving their supply chain management (especially with their foreign suppliers), and improving their sanitation and environmental monitoring programs at the top of the list.


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Analyzing Food safety systems

Utilizing Risk to Develop Food Safety Systems

Food safety systems can be examined in a systematic, risk-based way to aid food safety practitioners in their work
John Surak, Ph.D.
August 15, 2022

A risk-based approach is rapidly being incorporated into food safety systems. This can be attributed to the efforts of regulatory agencies and non-governmental organizations to develop requirements for food businesses. This article examines these food safety systems from a systematic, risk-based approach to allow the food safety practitioner to develop and improve food safety.


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Determining Microbiological Performance Standards

Determining Microbiological Performance Standards for Food Safety

A 5-log pathogen reduction is generally adopted as a good starting point, but it may not be applicable to all products and processes
Stephanie Nguyen Adam Woodworth
August 15, 2022

There are no set microbiological performance standards for food products, yet demonstrating that hazards are sufficiently controlled is a key component of FDA's Food Safety Modernization Act. For some products, such as canned goods, these standards have been set over many decades of scientific testing. For others, these performance standards have yet to be established, particularly for new, unique ingredients with minimal processing steps. This article explores the history of performance standards and provides guidance on how to establish such standards where currently lacking.


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Sanitation

Sanitation Success Rests on a Three-Legged Stool

Sanitation success is a prerequisite to food safety and quality and rests on three "legs": people, programs, and hygienic design and maintenance
Duane Grassmann
August 15, 2022

Sanitation success relies on people, programs, and hygienic design/maintenance. These three groups are characterized by interrelationships that are not always fully considered; however, examining them helps improve investigations of sanitation failures.


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fork and scale

Where Old Law Meets the New Era of Smarter Food Safety

How to make sense of the legal definition of "adulteration" in the age of smarter food safety and whole genome sequencing
Melanie Neumann J.D., M.Sc Martin Wiedmann Ph.D., D.V.M.
July 29, 2022

Assuring food safety in this "New Era of Smarter Food Safety" and with the increasing use of whole genome sequencing provides many new challenges for food safety professionals. While these challenges are many and multi-faceted, it is helpful to look back to the "old" era of food safety, to some of the foundational concepts in the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that are still in force today. In this article, the authors focus first on one of many important legal terms that is extremely important and often misunderstood: adulteration.



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