Providing Healthy and Safe Foods As We Age Workshop Summary (2010) / Chapter Skim
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4 Food Safety Concerns for Aging Populations
4 Food Safety Concerns for Aging Populations
Pages 61-86
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From page 61... ...
Food Forum Chair Michael Doyle of the University of Georgia, Athens, provided an overview of food processing and formulation technologies designed to protect against pathogens and contaminants, emphasizing the potential benefits and market sustainability of some of the newer non-thermal physical processing technologies and chemical treatments. He suggested that there could be niche market opportunities for some of the technologies that are otherwise having a difficult time penetrating the general marketplace (e.g., irradiated food products might be more acceptable and could be marketed to older adults, who are especially at risk of infection from foodborne pathogens)
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From page 62... ...
Health Protection Agency lists 11 food borne pathogens, only 4 of which are identified as being of concern for aging populations. • The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA)
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From page 63... ...
Gendel then described several examples of how surveillance data are used to identify pathogens of concern, emphasizing again the importance of distinguishing between susceptibility versus severity of infection: • listeria: Again, all four agencies that Gendel examined list listeria monocytogenes as being of concern to aging populations. CDC FoodNet data show that listeria infection incidence rates are much higher in aging populations than younger ones.
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From page 64... ...
FIgURE 4-1 listeria infection rates and the severity of illness from listeria infection both increase with aging. Panels a, b, and c provide evidence of the increased incidence of listeria infection with population age in the U.S.
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From page 65... ...
percent in the 80-and-over age group.3 See Figure 4-1 for a summary of data on listeria trends with aging. • Campylobacteria: In contrast to listeria, Campylobacteria data from CDC FoodNet show a much higher incidence in the very young and then, with aging, a decreasing and eventually constant rate.
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From page 66... ...
. • Vibrio: CDC FoodNet data show that Vibrio incidence rates by age differ between males and females, with incidence rates in males in creasing dramatically with age.
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." Moreover, for many pathogens, the increased probability of severe outcomes is of greater concern than increased susceptibility to infection per se. Sometimes incidence rates increase with aging, sometimes incidence rates remain constant with aging but severity increases, and sometimes both incidence and severity increase with aging.
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From page 68... ...
function, changes in dietary patterns, increased use of dietary supplements, and increased potential for interactions between sup plements and drugs. With respect to changes in liver function, hepatic metabolic capacity decreases with advancing age, such that clearance (ability of the body to eliminate drugs)
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From page 69... ...
The lack of safety data is of concern given that dietary supplements have been contaminated in the past with heavy metals (lead, mercury, arsenic) , organic solvents, pesticide residues, and other substances (e.g., melamine)
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From page 70... ...
In particular, they are interested in age-related differences in the efficacy of two dietary supplements commonly used as a form of chemoprotection against cancer: curcumin and soy isoflavones. • Curcumin is believed to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti aging, and anti-cancer (against many forms of cancer)
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From page 71... ...
Magnuson stated that the adverse effects of soy isoflavones in aged female animals observed in their pilot study needs further examination, because older women are the primary target population for the consumption of soy supplements. Conclusion In conclusion, Magnuson reiterated that there is very little information available on the effect of dietary contaminants on health during aging, but that changes in diet and physiology during aging clearly increase the risk for adverse effects.
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From page 72... ...
Foodborne illnesses in aging populations, Doyle observed, are largely associated with consumption of raw and uncooked foods. The industry has developed several different types of interventions and continues to develop new ways to ensure food safety.
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From page 73... ...
High hydrostatic pressure technology has several benefits: foods retain their nutritional, flavor, and color characteristics; the process kills vegetative cells of many different pathogens (e.g., Salmonella, listeria monocytogenes) ; it works for both liquid and solid foods and with or without packaging; it uniformly kills microbes regardless of size, shape, and food composition; and it precludes the need for preservatives, which in turn can reduce sodium content.
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From page 74... ...
They also have a high penetration and can therefore be used for thicker foods. listeristatic/listericidal Additives for the Mitigation of Listeria Monocytogenes Contamination of Ready-to-Eat Meat Products Doyle noted that as Gendel had already discussed, the severity of illness from listeria infection increases with advancing age, so it is an important threat to consider when formulating new food safety interventions.
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From page 75... ...
(b) � , � 2.5% sodium lactate + 0.25% �, � 2.5% sodium lactate + 0.25% sodium acetate sodium acetate � , � Control FIgURE 4-2 Growth of listeria monocytogenes (closed symbols)
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From page 76... ...
In another study, with vacuum-packaged uncured turkey breast meat stored at 7°C for up to 12 days, again the chemical treatment (in this case 1.5 percent sodium lactate and 0.05 percent sodium diacetate) suppressed listeria growth (Lianou et al., 2007)
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From page 77... ...
Treatment with a 3 percent levulinic acid and 1 percent SDS solution results in complete reduction of all detectable microbes within just one minute. The beauty of this technique, Doyle said, is that levulinic acid does not destroy the integrity of the food being treated, as is the case with lactic acid and other organic acids, which usually cause lettuce leaves (or leafy greens)
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From page 78... ...
PACKAgINg AND STORAgE CHALLENgES AND SOLUTIONS TO DECREASINg SAFETY RISKS Presenter: Aaron Brody Brody remarked that the goal of his talk would be to describe the key role played by the packaging industry in meeting consumer food and nutrition needs and desires. He stated that the industry is doing this better than it has at any other time in history and at a lower cost and with less environmental impact.
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From page 79... ...
are being packaged in laminated flexible pouches instead of metal cans. Plastics are also being used to design other types of packages, like microwavable, individual unit portion, and liner-less composite paperboard packages.
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, as well as new ways to make products more convenient. Examples of new convenience foods include "no drain" tuna, which is packaged in a reduced liquid retort pouches instead of heavy metal cans, and ready-to-eat fruit bowls.
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Knowledge of these adverse effects eventually led to hundreds of scientific studies but also a tremendous amount of inaccurate press and widespread public belief that it was not safe to drink grapefruit juice with any medication. Through a combined effort on the part of both the biomedical and nutritional science communities, researchers eventually learned that the interaction revolved around the enzyme cytochrome P450-3A (CYP3A)
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From page 82... ...
This is a property only of grapefruit juice; it does not apply to any other fruit products. Lack of Funding for Nutrition Research Greenblatt also commented on how both overall endowment values and annual rates of return on investments have fallen dramatically over the past several years, for "probably every university in the nation." He commented that financial reasons have created a "hugely reduced and less friendly" university environment for biomedical research, which coupled with a decrease in NIH funding over the last 5 to 10 years, stimulus money notwithstanding, raises serious questions about how some of these critical nutrition questions will be answered.
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From page 83... ...
compared to grapefruit juice." Incidence of Foodborne Infection and Severity of Illness in Older Adults Gendel was asked why the incidence of some foodborne pathogens is higher in older adults and to what extent the data he discussed reflect the fact that someone with symptoms is more likely to seek help (and therefore be included in a surveillance data set) than someone who is infected but not showing symptoms.
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From page 84... ...
However, with some 15,000 new packages introduced into the market every year, not every new package goes through the same testing procedures. Another audience member mentioned a focus group study currently under way in Manitoba, Canada, with the goal of gaining a better understanding of how to design and develop food products for baby boomers.
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From page 85... ...
the Complexity of Consumer Acceptance A comment that Doyle had made during his presentation about irradiated foods prompted an audience member to comment on the complexity of the issue of consumer acceptance. Consumer acceptance of risk depends on many factors, such as taste and cost.
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From page 86... ...
poultry plants use active chlorine for food decontamination purposes, but the European Commission does not allow the use of this practice in European plants. He asked the panelists their opinions on the use of a chemical that has toxic properties but that also effectively kills pathogens.
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