Posts from the "Storage and Handling" category
US: Finalised US sanitary rule requires more scrutiny from food shippers
Journal of Commerce / Lara L. Sowinski: On April 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a final rule establishing requirements for shippers, loaders, carriers by motor vehicle and rail, and receivers engaged in the transportation of food, including animal food, to use sanitary transportation practices to ensure the safety of the food they transport. The final rule is part of the FDA’s larger effort to focus on…
Read Article →US: Food safety posters for safe handling of leafy greens
Journal of Extension: This article describes food safety educational tools depicting safe handling of leafy greens that are available as downloadable posters to Extension educators and practitioners. Nine visual-based minimal-text colored posters in English, Chinese, and Spanish were developed for use when formally or informally educating foodservice workers about safely handling leafy greens.
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AU: How salad vegetable surfaces harbour pathogens — and it’s not how you expect
foodprocessing.com.au: Researchers at the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) decided to look at how viruses could stick to the surface of 24 common salad vegetables. They expected to establish that the small virus particles could ‘hide’ in the rough structures of the cuticle, the waxy layer that protects the plant against diseases and reduces water loss.
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SA: Microbiological food safety status of commercially produced tomatoes from production to marketing
Journal of Food Protection: Tomatoes have been implicated in various microbial disease outbreaks and are considered a potential vehicle for foodborne pathogens. Traceback studies mostly implicate contamination during production and/or processing. The microbiological quality of commercially produced tomatoes was thus investigated from the farm to market, focusing on the impact of contaminated irrigation and washing water, facility sanitation, and personal hygiene. A total of 905 samples were collected from three largescale commercial farms from 2012 through 2014.
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AU: An A-Z of common types of food poisoning
ABC Health & Wellbeing: Do you know which foods are more likely to cause Campylobacter? Or how many hours it takes to develop symptoms of Salmonella [infection] after eating a contaminated egg? Get the low-down on some of our most common causes of food poisoning.
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US: ProducePro campaign launched to help consumers safely prepare and enjoy fresh produce
Kathy Means, PMA: Consumers are the last line of defense in preventing foodborne illness.That’s why PMA supports the Partnership for Food Safety Education, which educates consumers through science-based, consumer-tested messaging.
The Partnership, with support from the Food Marketing Institute Foundation and PMA, introduced ProducePro, a new campaign to help consumers safely prepare and enjoy fresh produce with simple home safety practices.
Read Article →AU: Australian consumers’ food safety report card released
Food Safety Information Council: To celebrate World Health Day 2015, which has the theme of food safety, the Food Safety Information Council has released a report card assessing Australian consumers’ knowledge of food safety.
Council Chair, Professor Michael Eyles, said that, while it is good news that a recent Australian National University study found food poisoning cases in Australia have decreased from an estimated 4.3 million cases in 2000 to 4.1 million in 2010, this is still an alarmingly high number.
‘Food poisoning can be serious and results in 31,920 hospitalisations, 86 deaths and 1 million visits to doctors on average each year.
Click here to read the full story at the Food Safety Information Council
Back up the food safety training with a good book, writes Richard Bennett
There’s a lot of people responsible for grower, packer or processor quality assurance and food safety who are not technically trained in QA and food safety. That’s just a fact of life that reflects the size, structure and necessities of many fresh produce businesses – small, family and tight. It’s also the reason why some QA standards and customers insist on a minimum level of training for the person(s) responsible for managing food safety in the business, with some now also providing the required training.
Read Article →2014 CPS Symposium Key Learnings: 10 Lessons Learned
18 September 2014
Dr Bob Whitaker & Dr Jim Gorny from the Produce Marketing Association have provided a summary of 10 key lessons from the 2014 US Centre for Produce Safety (CPS) fifth annual reseach symposium.