Food safety

Food safety is a scientific discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. This includes a number of routines that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards.

Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Debates on genetic food safety include such issues as impact of genetically modified food on health of further generations and genetic pollution of environment, which can destroy natural biological diversity. In developed countries there are intricate standards for food preparation, whereas in lesser developed countries the main issue is simply the availability of adequate safe water, which is usually a critical item. In theory food poisoning is 100% preventable. The five key principles of food hygiene, according to WHO, are:

1. Prevent contaminating food with pathogens spreading from people, pets, and pests.
2. Separate raw and cooked foods to prevent contaminating the cooked foods.
3. Cook foods for the appropriate length of time and at the appropriate temperature to kill pathogens.
4. Store food at the proper temperature.
5. Do use safe water and cooked materials.

ISO 22000

ISO 22000 is a standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization dealing with food safety. This is a general derivative of ISO 9000. ISO 22000 standard: The ISO 22000 international standard specifies the requirements for a food safety management system that involves interactive communication, system management, prerequisite programs, HACCPprinciples.

Incidence

A 2003 World Health Organization (WHO) report concluded that about 30% of reported food poisoning outbreaks in the WHO European Region occur in private homes. According to the WHOand CDC, in the USA alone, annually, there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness leading to 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths.

Manufacturing control

HACCP guidelines

The UK Food Standards Agency publishes recommendations as part of its Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) programme. The relevant guidelines state that:

"Cooking food until the CORE TEMPERATURE is 75 °C or above will ensure that harmful bacteria are destroyed.
However, lower cooking temperatures are acceptable provided that the CORE TEMPERATURE is maintained for a specified period of time as follows :

• 60 °C for a minimum of 45 minutes
• 65 °C for a minimum of 10 minutes
• 70 °C for a minimum of 2 minutes"

Previous guidance from a leaflet produced by the UK Department Of Health “Handling Cooked Meats Safely A Ten Point Plan” also allowed for:

• "75 °C for a minimum of 30 seconds
• 80 °C for a minimum of 6 seconds"

Note that recommended cooking conditions are only appropriate if initial bacterial numbers in the uncooked food are small. Cooking does not overcome poor hygiene.

read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety

ISO 22000: Short Review

The ISO 22000 international standard specifies the requirements for a food safety management system that involves the following elements:

• interactive communication

• system management

• prerequisite programs

• HACCP principles

Critical reviews of the above elements have been conducted by many scientists, Communication along the food chain is essential to ensure that all relevant food safety hazards are identified and adequately controlled at each step within the food chain. This implies communication between organizations both upstream and downstream in the food chain. Communication with customers and supplies about identified hazards and control measures will assist in clarifying customer and supplier requirements.

Recognition of the organization’s role and position within the food chain is essential to ensure effective interactive communication throughout the chain in order to deliver safe food products to the final consumer.

The most effective food safety systems are established, operated and updated within the framework of a structured management system and incorporated into the overall management activities of the organization. This provides maximum benefit for the organization and interested parties. ISO 22000 has been aligned with ISO 9001 in order to enhance the compatibility of the two standards.

ISO 22000 can be applied independently of other management system standards or integrated with existing management system requirements.

ISO 22000 integrates the principles of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system and application steps developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. By means of auditable requirements, it combines the HACCP plan with prerequisite programmes. Hazard analysis is the key to an effective food safety management system, since conducting a hazard analysis assists in organizing the knowledge required to establish an effective combination of control measures. ISO 22000 requires that all hazards that may be reasonably expected to occur in the food chain, including hazards that may be associated with the type of process and facilities used, are identified and assessed. Thus it provides the means to determine and document why certain identified hazards need to be controlled by a particular organization and why others need not.

During hazard analysis, the organization determines the strategy to be used to ensure hazard control by combining the prerequisite programmes and the HACCP plan.

ISO is developing additional standards that are related to ISO 22000. These standards will be known as the ISO 22000 family of standards. At the present time, the following standards will make up the ISO 22000 family of standards:

ISO 22000 – Food safety management systems – Requirements for any organization in the food chain.

ISO 22001 – Guidelines on the application of ISO 9001:2000 for the food and drink industry (replaces: ISO 15161:2001).

ISO/TS 22002- Prerequisite programmes on food safety—Part 1: Food manufacturing

ISO TS 22003 – Food safety management systems for bodies providing audit and certification of food safety management systems.

ISO TS 22004 – Food safety management systems – Guidance on the application of ISO 22000:2005.

ISO 22005 – Traceability in the feed and food chain – General principles and basic requirements for system design and implementation.

ISO 22006 – Quality management systems – Guidance on the application of ISO 9002:2000 for crop production.

ISO 22000 is also used in the Food Safety Systems Certification (FSSC) Scheme FS22000. FS22000 is a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) approved scheme.

Hurdle Technology

Many food safety professionals are familiar with the term “hurdle technology”¹. The concept refers to the fact that, in many cases, multiple, low-level mitigations used sequentially or concurrently are more effective at reducing and eliminating microbes than the sum of the individual “hurdles.” The term was coined before “technology” was as omni-present as it is today, with vendors offering technologies that address all aspects of food safety: from the generation of HACCP plans to document control and management, rapid testing, traceability systems, new processing technologies, and many more discussed in this issue of QA. Sorting through all these technologies—and how they fit into your business—can be quite a hurdle.

One common question is how technology might be used to help meet the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The answer, however, generally requires an individual focus on the needs of the company: How can you improve your business and the safety and quality of your products, and thereby protect your brand? Pursuing robust food safety and food quality standards, that include strong preventive controls, will get you to the point of being compliant with what we expect to be in the FSMA regulations.

Many technologies can, however, be related to FSMA, and here we categorize them and discuss how technology can help you overcome some FSMA (and business) hurdles.

Prerequisite Programs. While the preventive control rules are still behind the doors of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as of this writing, FSMA specifies that preventive controls include prerequisite programs such as sanitation, training, environmental monitoring, food allergen control programs, recall plans, GMPs, and supplier-verification activities. There are a number of technological innovations that can help firms achieve GMPs and other components of prerequisite programs.

For example, FSMA requires firms to evaluate their sanitation programs, including “sanitation procedures for food-contact surfaces and utensils and food-contact surfaces of equipment.” Given the expectations of environmental testing and concern about allergen cross contamination, there are opportunities both for the providers of cleaning and sanitation chemicals and products as well as manufacturers of equipment to innovate to help food producers better manage sanitation in their facilities, consequently assuring compliance with FSMA.

Preventive Controls.

• Processes. USDA-regulated and a few FDA-regulated products are already required to have HACCP plans. Realistically, many firms have already gone through the process of identifying potential hazards and their critical control points (CCPs) and limits. Gone are the days when thermal processing, pH, salt content, and metal detection are the only CCP options. Researchers continue to identify novel ways to treat foods to reduce or detect potential hazards. Given USDA FSIS’ recent emphasis on verification and validation, firms who choose to use new technologies will want to use processes that have been validated. More conventional technologies benefit from volumes of published data (which in some cases has been used to develop models). Newer processes will need to be thoroughly explored to ensure that the “validation” aspect is covered. Determining and designing appropriate validation studies will require some effort. Firms will need to consider whether studies can be conducted in research environments or if they must be validated in a production center, and whether or not results obtained in one facility using one piece of equipment can be extrapolated to other locations or other equipment. Still, technologies such as irradiation (not new but still limited in use), high pressure processing, cold plasma, and others offer product-dependent benefits that can help firms satisfy consumer, customer, and regulatory expectations for safety and quality.
   
• Testing. Testing helps ensure that the food safety system is working, and includes that of finished products as part of verification activities as well as environmental testing as part of prerequisite programs. Given the short shelf life and/or just-in-time production that exists in many operations, firms are often faced with needing to decide if they should hold product while waiting for test results. Thus, there is a need for tests that are more rapid and more reliable. University researchers and diagnostic firms continue to find new ways to identify problematic food products more rapidly and with greater sensitivity at a reasonable cost. Tests are based on DNA, RNA, proteins, or other molecules, and they vary in the amount of sample preparation, sample volume, detection technology, and specificity. As testing becomes more prevalent, food companies will need to ensure that they are able to properly interpret and analyze results, ensure that appropriate sampling strategies are being used, trends are being determined, and preemptive action is taken when needed. Thus, data management is another area where technology goes hand in hand with FSMA.
   
• Recordkeeping. Of increasing importance, and apparent in FSMA, is a need to manage many different types of records. These include food safety plans that outline the prerequisite programs, HACCP plans, and food defense plans. Data generated as a result of these plans also need to be maintained, as well as documentation of the corrective actions implemented. While the recordkeeping regulations stemming from the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 already require one-up/one-back supply chain information, FSMA authorizes FDA to require additional records related to high-risk foods. And as we’ve seen in many outbreaks, although one-up/back records exist, piecing them together through the supply chain presents some challenges.

Conclusion. Technology should be seen as an enabler, not only to meet regulatory requirements, but more importantly, to protect your products and brands. As and when the FSMA proposed rules emerge, it will be possible to look at the new proposed requirements and provide more concrete suggestions around the use of technology. But as we all wait, it is well worth considering how some of the new technology solutions can be applied to food production that will place food firms in an optimal place to both protect their brands and be compliant with what will likely be in the new requirements.

 

¹Leistner L (1995) “Principles and applications of hurdle technology.” In Gould GW (Ed.) New Methods of Food Preservation, Springer, pp. 1–21.

Short Introduction to HACCP

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point or HACCP (English, pronounced /ˈhæsʌp/) is a systematic preventive approach to food safety and pharmaceutical safety that addresses physical, chemical, and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than finished product inspection. HACCP is used in the food industry to identify potential food safety hazards, so that key actions can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk of the hazards being realized. The system is used at all stages of food production and preparation processes including packaging, distribution, etc. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) say that their mandatory HACCPprograms for juice and meat are an effective approach to food safety and protecting public health. Meat HACCP systems are regulated by the USDA, while seafood and juice are regulated by the FDA. The use of HACCP is currently voluntary in other food industries.

A forerunner to HACCP was developed in the form of production process monitoring during World War II because traditional "end of the pipe" testing was not an efficient way to ferret out artillery shells that would not explode. HACCP itself was conceived in the 1960s when the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) asked Pillsbury to design and manufacture the first foods for space flights. Since then, HACCPhas been recognized internationally as a logical tool for adapting traditional inspection methods to a modern, science-based, food safety system. Based on risk-assessment,HACCP plans allow both industry and government to allocate their resources efficiently in establishing and auditing safe food production practices. In 1994, the organization of International HACCP Alliance was established initially for the US meat and poultry industries to assist them with implementing HACCP and now its membership has been spread over other professional/industrial areas.
Hence, HACCP has been increasingly applied to industries other than food, such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. This method, which in effect seeks to plan out unsafe practices, differs from traditional "produce and test" quality control methods which are less successful and inappropriate for highly perishable foods. In the US, HACCP compliance is regulated by 21 CFR part 120 and 123. Similarly, FAO/WHO published a guideline for all governments to handle the issue in small and less developed food businesses.

Principle of HACCP

Principle 1: Conduct a hazard analysis. – Plans determine the food safety hazards and identify the preventive measures the plan can apply to control these hazards. A food safety hazard is any biological, chemical, or physical property that may cause a food to be unsafe for human consumption.

Principle 2: Identify critical control points. – A Critical Control Point (CCP) is a point, step, or procedure in a food manufacturing process at which control can be applied and, as a result, a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated, or reduced to an acceptable level.

Principle 3: Establish critical limits for each critical control point. – A critical limit is the maximum or minimum value to which a physical, biological, or chemical hazard must be controlled at a critical control point to prevent, eliminate, or reduce to an acceptable level.

Principle 4: Establish critical control point monitoring requirements. – Monitoring activities are necessary to ensure that the process is under control at each critical control point. In the United States, the FSIS is requiring that each monitoring procedure and its frequency be listed in the HACCP plan.

Principle 5: Establish corrective actions. – These are actions to be taken when monitoring indicates a deviation from an established critical limit. The final rule requires a plant's HACCP plan to identify the corrective actions to be taken if a critical limit is not met. Corrective actions are intended to ensure that no product injurious to health or otherwise adulterated as a result of the deviation enters commerce.

Principle 6: Establish procedures for ensuring the HACCP system is working as intended.– Validation ensures that the plants do what they were designed to do; that is, they are successful in ensuring the production of a safe product. Plants will be required to validate their own HACCP plans. FSIS will not approve HACCP plans in advance, but will review them for conformance with the final rule.

Verification ensures the HACCP plan is adequate, that is, working as intended. Verification procedures may include such activities as review of HACCP plans, CCP records, critical limits and microbial sampling and analysis. FSIS is requiring that the HACCP plan include verification tasks to be performed by plant personnel. Verification tasks would also be performed by FSIS inspectors. Both FSIS and industry will undertake microbial testing as one of several verification activities.

Verification also includes 'validation' – the process of finding evidence for the accuracy of the HACCP system (e.g. scientific evidence for critical limitations).

Principle 7: Establish record keeping procedures. – The HACCP regulation requires that all plants maintain certain documents, including its hazard analysis and written HACCP plan, and records documenting the monitoring of critical control points, critical limits, verification activities, and the handling of processing deviations.