Managing Food Safety Practices from Farm to Table Workshop Summary (2009) / Chapter Skim
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2 Recent Outbreaks in Food Products: Lessons Learned from Past Experience
2 Recent Outbreaks in Food Products: Lessons Learned from Past Experience
Pages 15-42
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From page 15... ...
. One of the key messages of his talk, Next Generation Food Safety in Fresh Produce: An Industry Perspective, was that while Natural Selection Foods has significantly improved its food safety system since the outbreak, there are still a multitude of food safety problems that can arise after a product leaves the farm and which are not being appropriately addressed.
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From page 16... ...
In the third presentation of this session, Lessons Learned in the Meat Industry: Control of Listeria in RTE Meat and Poultry Products, Randall Huffman, President of the American Meat Institute (AMI) Foundation provided an overview of the history of Listeria control in ready-to-eat (RTE)
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From page 17... ...
The focus should be on making food as safe as possible. Next Generation Food Safety in Fresh Produce: An Industry Perspective Presenter: Will Daniels Will Daniels began his presentation with a brief description of Natural Selection Foods.
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From page 18... ...
to enhancing food safety which, today, represents a significant improvement in Natural Selection Foods' safety management system. Daniels provided an overview of five of the major programs that Natural Selection Foods has established over these past two years as part of its new multi-hurdle approach: • eed to Harvest: Natural Selection Foods has developed a new plan S for enhanced GAPs, including: o onducting pre-season ranch assessments of the history, to c pography, adjacent land use, and other relevant features of all potential ranches; This is in addition to the 2007 California Leafy Green Products Handler Marketing Agreement.
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From page 19... ...
• aining Deeper Knowledge: Natural Selection Foods is now us G ing its test data (e.g., from its Raw Material Firewall and Finished Product Firewall programs) to develop a deeper understanding of what is needed to prevent outbreaks.
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From page 20... ...
Natural Selection Foods goes through multiple audits yearly, often repetitively for different buyers. Multiple audits cost resources and time, which may be better spent on finding new answers to food safety issues.
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From page 21... ...
"I would love it if we could have an opportunity to share more of the data that we've generated through this Test and Hold Program," Daniels said. "I think that there could be efforts made to protect that data and allow it to be used early on." Daniels then gave two examples of the type of safety data being generated at Natural Selection Foods: 1.
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From page 22... ...
. Daniels explained that the low normalized level for spinach is important given that spinach is Natural Selection Foods' single largest individual ingredient, comprising about 30 percent of the company's received products (i.e., if spinach was not such a large volume product, the high number of incidents, without taking into account volume, would be more alarming than it is)
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From page 23... ...
Having a mechanism in place for government agencies to find quick answers would also alleviate some of the pressure that industry is under during outbreak situations. During the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, Natural Selection Foods spent an inordinate amount of time reassuring customers that they were distributing neither tomatoes, cilantro, nor jalapeño peppers.
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From page 24... ...
Pasteurization is usually interpreted to mean that a heat or other form of treatment has been used to destroy harmful microorganisms. Completely sterile and commercially sterile foods arguably have the best safety record of any category of processed foods.
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From page 25... ...
Zink remarked that it doesn't do any good to produce a safe food if you can't keep it safe before it is in consumer hands.
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From page 26... ...
In conclusion, Zink re-emphasized that the main value of considering the food safety record of thermally processed foods is to contrast it with other types of foods (e.g., fresh produce) , and identify and understand those components that give the former a much better safety record.
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From page 27... ...
Our scars are numerous and deep." -- John Butts, Vice President of Research, Land O'Frost Randall Huffman began his presentation by remarking that he would be focusing on the control of Listeria monocytogenes in RTE meat products (which, he remarked, fall within the mild heat/pasteurization category on Zink's thermal heat treatment continuum)
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From page 28... ...
. Later, the USDA/FSIS ratch eted up both RTE product and plant testing, and the CDC initiated two new programs (PulseNet, a system for rapidly identifying large multi-state outbreaks; and FoodNet, an active foodborne illness surveillance system)
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From page 29... ...
Huffman spent most of his presentation time elaborating on each of these stages of the "Cycle of Control" with respect to industry actions in response to Listeria in RTE meat products. He provided a list of actions taken by industry at each of the four stages: 1.
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From page 30... ...
. • here was a growing understanding of how organisms spread T from growth niches to transfer points (e.g., worker hands or bins used on multiple lines)
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Prevent Listeria growth in a niche or other site that can lead to RTE product contamination.
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From page 32... ...
All recalls of RTE meat products for Listeria over the past five years have exclusively resulted from products testing positive after not being held by the manufac turer prior to being shipped. • he sanitation control of growth niches is much better under T stood today (i.e., the necessary degree of equipment disassem bly, chemical sanitizer treatment, hand scrubbing of contact surfaces, heat treatment, non-daily scheduled sanitation, and effective Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs)
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From page 33... ...
. Most of that improvement occurred in 1999 and 2000, however, which raises the question: Why hasn't there been any further improvement, especially given that RTE meat products are among the highest risk foods and that the prevalence of foodborne illness associated with this product has declined sharply during this timeframe?
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From page 34... ...
She noted that many states are considering changing their regulations to enhance avail ability for the public. Bruhn said that this is a growing area of con cern because of the increased risk in foodborne illness associated with raw milk consumption.
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From page 35... ...
While these percentages are relatively low, the lack of any improvement between 1999 and 2002 (i.e., before and after initiation of a nationwide food safety campaign to educate consumers about key food safety messages) suggests that while food safety educational programs are very important and necessary, they have not had as major an impact as hoped.
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From page 36... ...
:130-161. 12 Food Marketing Institute Research Department.
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From page 37... ...
Biotech/GM 20 Irradiated 21 Antibiotic/hormone 27 a e r e Qi c T i e ™ a n a u k m d e c mp r s s r o e o d n e det os e t i pi t e . d h s c u r Avian Influenza 38 Pesticides 43 Terrorists 44 Tampering 46 Bacteria 53 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 F MI Trends 2008 Figure 2-5 Data from the FMI show that people appropriately view bacteria as the number one food risk (SOURCE: Food Marketing Institute Research Depart Figure 2-5, editable ment.
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From page 38... ...
Finally, getting back to the issue of changing population demographics, one might expect people in higher risk groups to manage their own food safety risks more efficiently. But data show that even among people with HIV/AIDS who have received food safety education information, still many people are not following appropriate food safety guidelines.
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From page 39... ...
• aste preferences, which often override food safety concerns (e.g., T people like the taste of rare ground beef) Bruhn concluded with a summary of five key points: 1.
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From page 40... ...
Zink was asked whether any data indicate that flexible packaging has been linked to any foodborne illnesses. Zink said "not specifically." Flexible packaging does not have the same durability and integrity as glass jars and metal cans do, however, it does have slightly higher leakage and spoilage rates.
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From page 41... ...
When asked about what kind of oversight Natural Selection Foods has over these ranches, Daniels explained that they require third party audits for each ranch, as well as compliance with Natural Selection Foods' own GAP guidelines and verification audits to ensure that this is happening. When asked if the company requires any physical sampling of the ranch environment, Daniels said, "typically not." He explained that one of the benefits of their multi-hurdle approach is that if, for example, positive results are obtained for raw materials, those results are obtained quickly enough that Natural Selection Foods can return in real-time (within 16 hours of harvest)
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From page 42... ...
Even the strongest preventive programs need to be continually enhanced and improved. Finally, Donley applauded Natural Selection Foods' aggressive testing for pathogens other than O157 and expressed disappointment that a recent USDA/FSIS position on declaring other EHEC strains as adulterants in meat and poultry products did not advance.
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