Tag: fresh produce

AU: Peeling vegetables: is it necessary?

Huffington Post: When making a meal at home, many of us have the habit of peeling all our veggies — pumpkin, zucchini, carrots, everything. But do we really need to? Considering we waste $8 billion of food each year, with the average household throwing out one in five grocery bags per week, couldn’t we simply stop peeling our veggies? Many might dislike the idea of not peeling veggies for fear of food safety, but it’s not as much of a concern as we think.

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Tag: fresh produce

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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Tag: fresh produce

NZ: Golden apple industry on its way to $1 billion target

NZ Herald: When Hawke’s Bay orchardist Lesley Wilson began growing apples close to 30 years ago, “paperwork” meant keeping a cashbook and a box of receipts. Now, she says she could fill a room with compliance folders — and that’s part of the reason why the industry has performed so strongly in recent years.

Wilson says all those folders mean the industry now has the ability to jump through various compliance and quarantine requirements to find lucrative markets for its apples.

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Tag: fresh produce

CA: How to improve brand protection and increase consumer trust

Global Food Safety Resource: What kinds of events can hurt or destroy food companies? A food safety or food fraud event that sickens or kills people, depending on where the event occurs, can deal a damaging or fatal blow to a food company. When it comes to protecting brands against food safety and food fraud, totally different approaches are required.

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Tag: fresh produce

UK: Research round-up: How can bacteriophages, turmeric and BARDOT ensure safe food?

Food Quality News: Research is a critical part of food safety. Many of the tools we have today have gone through much work before seeing the light of day. FQN takes a look at some recent work.

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Tag: fresh produce

US: Consumer definition of food safety expanded, study finds

Associations Now: Health and wellness, safety, social impact, experience, and transparency are all factors 51 percent of consumers weigh when determining which food items to purchase, according to a joint study from the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), Food Marketing Institute (FMI), and consulting firm Deloitte. The study, “Capitalizing on the Shifting Consumer Food Value Equation,” found these new factors influence purchasing decisions in addition to traditional drivers like taste, price, and convenience.

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Tag: fresh produce

US: Food safety and the perception of risk

Click here to read the full article from Food Safety News: In the latest issue of Food Safety Magazine published Nov. 3, 2015, there is an article about the terms “hazard analysis” and “risk assessment.” I wrote that article to highlight the fact that these terms, which have different origins but may have similar meanings, are not really the same and do not produce the same results.

Briefly, hazard analysis is the assessment of the hazards that may be associated with a food commodity in a particular food processing establishment, with the final output of finding out which hazards are “significant” and have to be addressed in a HACCP (hazard analysis critical control points) plan. Risk assessment is more complex and requires the use of more sophisticated data analysis to characterize the risk for a given pathogen/food commodity combination.

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Tag: fresh produce

AU: Barcodes: benefits, usage & getting it right

Food Magazine: A product’s barcode is a vital aspect of its manufacture, enabling traceability within the supply chain and facilitating the smooth flow of goods. Poor quality barcodes can cause severe disruption to the supply chain, as well as impacting efficient product replenishment.

This infographic provides a best practice guide for Australian companies for successful barcode application.

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Tag: fresh produce

NZ: Taking a risk-based approach

NZ Ministry for Primary Industries: NZFSA scientists are always re-evaluating the weight of scientific evidence relating to food safety, looking to see if it fits into the New Zealand context, and are ready to act if it does.

Good science follows the accepted scientific process: observe, develop hypothesis, undertake repeat research and refine it. It involves peer review and robust systems of analysis methodology and interpretation. The work can take decades and rarely makes gripping reading.

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Tag: fresh produce

US: Modern outbreak detection challenges produce food safety

The Packer: DNA fingerprinting and other scientific methods — as well as social media — are changing the face of food illness outbreaks.

Panelists participating in an Oct. 23 food safety workshop at the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit learned that and as scientific methods which can link foodborne illness cases in Oregon to one in the middle of the country, social media can link rare and sporadic spoilage issues.

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