Posts from the "Research News" category
Five key messages from the Fresh Produce Safety Conference, writes Richard Bennett
Nearly 130 representatives from across the Australian and New Zealand ‘food safety value chain’ attended the second Fresh Produce Safety Conference in Sydney on 11th August 2014. Growers, packers and marketers, wholesalers, processors and retailers, QA facilitators and auditors, academia, researchers and students, government, industry associations and input suppliers, were all well represented. The mix of formal presentations, the opportunity to put questions to speakers, the interactive outreach and research sessions and networking whenever possible were all well received.
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Hazelnut growers target pathogens, pests
Mateusz Perkowski writes: Heavily shaded hazelnut orchards may discourage salmonella from lingering on the ground, but the conclusions for growers remain uncertain, according to an orchard researcher.
Ground temperatures in heavily shaded hazelnut orchards appear to fall below the temperature range in which salmonella thrives, compared to orchards with less shade cover, said Bruce Lampinen, a tree nut specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension.
The results in Oregon hazelnut orchards were greatly different than in California almond and walnut orchards, where heavy shade cover seems to improve conditions for salmonella, he said.
Read the full article at capitalpress.com
Image credit: Jennifer C. / Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
More answers still to come in food safety research
Tim York writes: While the need to reduce risk of foodborne illness in fresh produce is not new, it remains at the top of the list of priorities for most of us working in the supply chain. Similarly, managing risk continues to be a hot topic among foodservice operators simultaneously working to reduce food costs and improve customer satisfaction.
Safe produce starts in the field and ends on the plate — but all points along the way have a shared commitment to preventing problems. Creating an industry culture that puts protecting people as its first priority is followed closely — but followed nonetheless — by the health of our companies.
Read the full article at thepacker.com
So what do consumers really think about food safety?
“67 percent of the 5000 people surveyed believed that food safety was essential, compared to only 48 percent seven years ago.”
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Reading food safety advice on labels
Consumer understanding of food safety on labels advice is improving but there is still room for improvement.
There has been a lot of interest in recent years about how consumers understand and use the nutrition information on food labels to assist them in making healthier food choices. However, the food safety components on food labels, such as ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates, as well as cooking and storage instructions, have received less attention. This is despite the fact that this labelling, if followed correctly, plays an important role in reducing the risk of foodborne illness.
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Confused by the chemical jargon? Don’t understand the registration process?
Agricultural chemicals, whether they be for conventional production systems, organic production systems or both, must be registered by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) before they can be legally supplied, sold or used in Australia.
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Study traces E.coli toll from bagged salads
About 63,000 cases of illness from E.coli happen in the U.S. each year, and a growing number of cases are linked to lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens in bagged salads, according to a study published in the journal Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. The study examined an outbreak of foodborne illness that was traced to bagged salad, in which six people were hospitalized and two died.
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Decontamination by ultrasound application in fresh fruits and vegetables
Ever wondered about how ultrasound could be used to enhance food safety? An article to be published in Food Safety details the “principles, mechanisms and effects of ultrasound on fruits and vegetables as a sanitization technology.”
Abstract
Changes in consumer eating habits, health concerns, and convenient and practical foods have led to an increased demand for fruit and vegetable products. Food safety is essential considering that there are reports of outbreaks involving the consumption of fruits and vegetables contaminated with pathogens. Washing associated with sanitizer procedure is considered as a critical step to satisfy hygienic and sanitary requirements and maintain the sensory and nutritional characteristics of fruits and vegetables. Chemical compounds are widely applied to clean and sanitize fresh fruits and vegetables, and some of these chemicals, such as the inorganic chlorine compounds, produce by-products that are dangerous to human health. The use of ultrasound is a technology that is gaining ground in the food industry. Ultrasound is a form of energy generated by sound waves at frequencies that are too high to be detected by the human ear. In ultrasound, the removal of dirt and food residues from surfaces and the inactivation of microorganisms occur as a consequence of cavitation, which is the formation, growth and collapse of bubbles that generate a localized mechanical and chemical energy. There are indications that this technology can be used in the food industry, alone or associated with chemical sanitizers. In this paper, we discuss the principles, mechanisms and effects of ultrasound on fruits and vegetables as a sanitization technology.
Full article at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2014.04.015
Title: Decontamination by ultrasound application in fresh fruits and vegetables
Source: Food Control. Volume 45, November 2014, Pages 36 – 50
Authors: Jackline Freitas Brilhante de São José, Nélio José de Andrade, Afonso Mota Ramos, Maria Cristina Dantas Vanetti, Paulo César Stringheta and José BenÃcio Paes Chaves
Document Type: Research Article
Bubbles image by Ilena Gecan 2007 (under creative commons licence)
Processing and storage of celery
An article published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Food Protection explains ‘mitigation strategies during dicing and proper refrigeration are essential to minimizing potential health risks associated with diced celery.’ The abstract reproduced below:
The transfer of Listeria monocytogenes to previously uncontaminated product during mechanical dicing of celery and its growth during storage at various temperatures were evaluated. In each of three trials, 275 g of retail celery stalks was immersed in an aqueous five-strain L. monocytogenes cocktail to obtain an average of 5.6 log CFU/g and then was diced using a hand-operated dicer, followed by sequential dicing of 15 identical 250-g batches of uninoculated celery using the same dicer. Each batch of diced celery was examined for numbers of Listeria initially and after 3 and 7 days of storage at 4, 7, and 10°C. Additionally, the percentage by weight of inoculated product transferred to each of 15 batches of uninoculated celery was determined using inoculated red stems of Swiss chard as a surrogate. Listeria transfer to diced celery was also assessed after removing the Swiss chard. L. monocytogenes transferred from the initial batch of inoculated celery to all 15 batches of uninoculated celery during dicing, with populations decreasing from 5.2 to 2.0 log CFU/g on the day of processing. At 10°C, Listeria reached an average population of 3.4 log CFU/g in all batches of uninoculated celery. Fewer batches of celery showed significant growth during storage at 4 and 7°C (P < 0.05). Swiss chard pieces were recovered from all 15 batches of celery, with similar amounts seen in batches 2 to 15 (P > 0.05). L. monocytogenes was also recovered from each batch of uninoculated celery after the removal of Swiss chard, with populations decreasing from 4.7 to 1.7 log CFU/g. Storing the diced celery at 10°C yielded a L. monocytogenes generation time of 0.87 days, with no significant growth observed during storage at 4 or 7°C. Consequently, mitigation strategies during dicing and proper refrigeration are essential to minimizing potential health risks associated with diced celery.
Full article at: http://dx.doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-13-382
Title: Listeria monocytogenes transfer during mechanical dicing of celery and growth during subsequent storage
Source: Journal of Food Protection, Number 5, May 2014, pp. 696-863 , pp. 765-771(7)
Authors: Kaminski, Chelsea N; Davidson, Gordon R; Ryser, Elliot T
Document Type: Research Article
Celery image by J M Rosenfeld 2008 (under creative commons licence)
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