Posts from the "Latest News" category
Researcher studies food safety in greenhouse tomato production
LSU AgCenter plant pathologist Melanie Lewis Ivey is studying how diseases enter greenhouses and cost-effective prevention methods. Ivey said the goal is to identify the entry points of high-risk pathogens and develop best practices for safeguarding greenhouse crops from bacteria, viruses and viroids. She also hopes to find out if plant pathogens and human pathogens enter systems at similar points. Ivey said the project includes both small and large greenhouses, so researchers can determine how risk levels vary by size of the operation.
Because food safety is ultimately up to the people who grow and process food, Ivey is assembling a guide that will help greenhouse producers learn about best practices for plant disease and food safety management.
The project is a collaboration with Ohio State University and is funded by a $2 million speciality grant from U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The AgCenter’s part is $130,000. To read the full article, please click here.
Source: www.lsuagcenter.com, written by Olivia McClure.
Dr Robyn McConchie’s Report of Day 2 at CPS Research Symposium, 27th June 2013
The CPS at the University of Davis has been very supportive of the initiatives in Australia to establish an affiliated Fresh Produce Safety Centre. Over the past year they have very generously shared their research outcomes, they have given presentations to our industry, and this year invited Australian researchers to apply for research grants to work collaboratively with US scientists on issues important for the Australian fruit and vegetable industry.
As part of the ongoing collaboration Dr Robyn McConchie from the University of Sydney was invited to take part in a panel session at the recent 2013 CPS Research Symposium held at Wegman’s Conference Centre in Rochester, NY State. Due to the increasing awareness and interest from the US industry, the Research Symposium was held over 2 days. To view a summary of Day 1 on Listeria and Composts please click here.
Click here to view the outcomes of projects from the second day on “Water Quality for Irrigation and Postharvest Practices”, “Pathogen transference: Pre-harvest, harvest and Packaging.” And “Hot Topics.”
“The foods most likely to give you food poisoning” – Fruit and Vegetables aren’t off the hook
In the lead up to the Food Safety Information Council, Australian Food Safety Week themed, Shopping Food Safety, it was reported on www.news.com.au [7/11/13] that food borne illness may not be result of your chicken lunch but the salad…
Lorraine Belanger, spokeswoman for Food Standards Australia New Zealand, said a lot of foodborne illness happens in the home. And under the right circumstances anything can give you food poisoning.
“People think of chicken as the number one suspect but actually things like salads and cut fruit, if handled in wrong way or exposed to wrong things, can cause major foodborne outbreaks.” Many foodborne illnesses take days or weeks to manifest.
“When people get sick they think ‘Oh it was that thing I ate at lunch’ but it could be something they ate a week ago,” Ms Belanger said.
Juliana Madden, executive officer at the Food Safety Information Council, says vegetarians and vegans often think they’re more protected from food poisoning but this is not the case. “Some of the largest food safety issues that have popped up in the last few years have been things like baby spinach and tomatoes,” Ms Madden said.
The article highlighted to consumers seven foods that pose food poisoning risks:
rice
raw vegetables
fruit
sprouts
chicken, duck and turkey
eggs
deli meats
To view the full article, click here.
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Australian Food Safety Week,11 – 17th November 2013
It is the second week of November and the Food Safety Information Council (FSIC) is holding its annual Australian Food Safety Week!
The Food Safety Information Council provides information to consumers, aiming to reduce the incidence of food poisoning, and to protect people from what is often a nasty experience involving diarrhoea, vomiting, cramps and fever.
This years theme is Shopping Food Safety focusing on ‘Clean, Choose, Chill and Separate‘ when selecting food and transporting it home safely. A national Newspoll Survey, commissioned by the Food Safety Information Council for Australian Food Safety Week, shows that too few Australian consumers are taking notice of vital food safety advice on food labels and are taking risks by not using insulated bags or coolers to transport refrigerated food.
Strict food safety standards apply to food retailers in Australia to ensure that the food you buy is safe. But there are some signs you can look for to ensure you buy a safe product. Once you buy the food, it’s up to you to make sure that it stays safe including not leaving shopping in a hot car. To read more about this topic, click here.
Resources available from over the years in various topics concerning consumer food safety. To view them, click here.
Source: Food Safety Information Council [13.11.2013]
While the food safety tips apply to all agricultural produce, fresh produce features as a significant risk to consumers due to the raw eaten nature of the product. Education on food safety is vital to ensure the integrity of fruit and vegetables to be healthy, nutritious and safe.
Seventh FPSANZ monthly newsletter out now!
The seventh edition of the Fresh Produce Safety Australia & New Zealand newsletter has just been released!
In this edition:
Institute of Food Technologists Launches Global Food Traceability Center
Emerging Pathogens: E. Coli O104:H4
Number of severe E. coli strains grows
Changes to the MRLS for Blueberries and Raspberries – FSANZ
…and more!
Click here to check out the newsletter.
Stay up to date with what’s happening in the Fresh Produce Safety community by signing up for the monthly newsletter.
New Research in Food safety at the 13th ASEAN Food Conference, Singapore 2013
The biennial ASEAN Food Conference is the leading forum for the food industry and research community in the region. The theme of the 13th ASEAN Food Conference held on the 9th-11th September 2013 in Singapore was “Meeting Future Food Demands: Security and Sustainability”.
Issues of malnutrition, undernutrition, and sustainable production were certainly important topics. However the themes were interpreted quite broadly to encompass, for example, how improvement in nutritional quality and food safety could benefit consumer health and community livelihoods, and help to address the alarming worldwide escalation in diet-related and lifestyle diseases. Sustainability was discussed less in terms of environmental impact, and more in terms of innovations in food processing, quality and safety to sustain long-term food industries.
The program included sessions on: managing innovation, nutrition & health, food chemistry & biochemistry, sensory science & consumer studies, food microbiology, food engineering, food processing, food product development, protein and weight management, food safety, food science and technology education, functional foods, nanotechnology of food, food analysis and quality assurance, and management of allergens in the food chain. The full program is available online, click here.
The conference was about food generally, but some interesting topics relevant to produce safety included:
Development of a fermentation process to produce a natural preservative called phenyllactic acid (PLA) from Lactobacillus plantarum bacteria. The PLA was shown to have antimicrobial activity against a variety of pathogens and extended the shelf-life of fresh-cut pineapple and bottled pineapple juice (Bui Kim Thuy, Nguyen Duy Lam, and Nguyen Thi Hoai Tram).
Development of a Surface Plasmon Resonance biosensor and sensor chips with antibodies specific to Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella Enteritidis, and Listeria monocytogenes. The biosensor is an experimental format that, if successful, would allow convenient simultaneous detection of target bacteria (Zhang Xiaoguang, Sachiko Tsuji, Ken-ichi Honjoh, and Takahisa Miyamoto).
Direct irradiation with LED has bactericidal effects on E. coli O157:H7, S. Typhimurium, and L. monocytogenes dependent on the pH of the medium and LED wavelength – blue is better than green! (Vinayak Ghate, Leong Ai Ling, and Yuk Hyun-Gyun).
Chitosan is a natural antimicrobial and antilisterial agent. Electron microscopy suggested that chitosan kills the bacteria by interfering with cell membrane permeability and causing leakage of cell contents (Juthamas Tantala, Titima Sukmark, Masubon Thongngam, Kanjana Thumanu, Pornchai Rachtanapun, Chitsiri Rachtanapun).
Establishment of a microbial risk assessment and food safety system for the Singapore retail sector by the National Environment Agency (NEA). The NEA is a government agency that has brought together regulatory activity and research to develop and deliver a risk-based inspection and education service. A unique feature of this relates to the cultural popularity of ready-to-eat food bought from stalls, which have special hygiene challenges (Ramona A Gutierrez and Ng Lee Ching).
Site visit to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore, which is the national food safety agency. Singapore imports 90% of its food from all over the world and has extremely well-resourced labs to test for chemical contaminants, additives and preservatives, drug residues, pesticide residues, food pathogens, foodborne parasites, physical quality, GMO, and other toxins. It also provides export certification, accreditation of food businesses, and food safety education; implements labelling and advertisement regulations and food recalls; and has a variety of roles relating to the animals and pet sector.
Check out who has pledged support for the Fresh Produce Safety Centre?
Thank you to the fresh fruit and vegetable industry for the great response and support for the establishment of the Fresh Produce Safety Centre. The FPSC in gaining momentum with over $125,000 in pledged funds!
These funds will be leveraged to apply for matched funding from the Australian government to develop the strategic plan of the Centre, the Constitution, the legal framework, the Board of Directors, and the R&D priorities as communicated to us by the fresh produce industry. The Centre will administer the following activities in food safety that will benefit the entire fresh produce industry:
securing and managing research funds,
leveraging research funding,
managing the industry-driven research projects,
maintaining the website,
providing education, communication and information
Institute of Food Technologists Launches Global Food Traceability Center
The Global Food Traceability Center will serve all aspects of the food system by generating knowledge that addresses research gaps, and delivering applied research, objective advice, and practical expertise about food product traceability and data collaboration for private benefit and public good.
Through its work, the Center will provide the means to accelerate the adoption and implementation of practical traceability solutions across the global food system. It will also deliver support services that help to increase understanding of food traceability across the following business platforms:
Research
Protocols and Standards
Education and Training
Technology Transfer
To find out more, click here.
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Changes to the MRLS for Blueberries and Raspberries – FSANZ
The Australian Food and Grocery Council has submitted an application to request consideration of maximum residue limits (MRLs) for agricultural chemicals concerned with individually quick frozen (IQF) blueberries and raspberries imported from Chile.
The request is made to address a need for sourcing competitively priced ingredients in a convenient format for consumers wishing to incorporate blueberries and raspberries into their diets.
The chemicals for which the MRLs are requested are Azoxystrobin (blueberry); Fenhexamid (blueberry); Fludioxonil (blueberry) and Bifenthrin (raspberry).
These chemicals are already permitted to be used in Australia for other commodities.
Read the executive summary here.
Read about the submission in more detail.
Number of severe E. coli strains grows
In addition to the better-known E. coli O157:H7, the group includes E. coli O26, O45, O111, O121, O130 and O145.
Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that as much as one-third of infections are caused by these other strains.
These strains are known scientifically as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli because they have the traits of one or both Shiga toxins.
Although some outbreaks of these nasty strains have been linked to fruits and vegetables, they are nearly always traced to warm-blooded animals, including birds, that have passed over or through farms.
To read the full article from The Grower, click here.