Food Protection Trends - July 2008 - (Page 464)

“LONE STAR PERSPECTIVE” from your president hy do we love endproduct testing so much? We scientists are a logically thinking group, so I guess it just seems to be the logical thing to do. Maybe that is not t h e r e a s o n , h o w e v e r. I t apparently doesn’t take a Ph.D. to come to that conclusion. Even most consumers, unfamiliar with microbiology, will tell you that if you want to know if food is contaminated, just test it. Unfortunately, as we all know, microbiological sampling of food to detect presence of low levels of pathogens is often unsuccessful. Most bacterial pathogens are not homogenously distributed in our food, so it is difficult to represent the overall level of contamination through the collection of a microbiological sample. In addition, the enteric pathogens that many of us spend our careers fighting, like Escherichia coli O157:H7, are most often present in very low numbers in raw foods of animal origin, when there at all. To detect them takes examination of an extremely large number of sample units from a lot, and even then, probability works against us in any associated attempt to ensure food safety. So are low numbers significant? Depends on the pathogens, but for enteric pathogens, presence at almost any level should be of concern. We cannot expect to test food and detect the presence of pathogens unless the contamination level is fairly high and we just happen to be lucky enough to hit a contaminated sample unit. Do you feel lucky? Back in the 1980s, a group of food microbiologists was tasked with writing microbiological criteria with the goal of ensuring the W By GARy ACUFF PRESIDENT “If we occasionally detect the presence of enteric pathogens in ground beef, why are we not concerned that our process control could be better? ” safety of food. They published their findings in a report entitled An Evaluation of the Role of Microbiological Criteria in Foods and Food Ingredients. After much research and lengthy discussion, the group determined that microbiological criteria were insufficient for ensuring safety, primarily for the reasons discussed above. Assuring the safety of food from production through con- sumption is a complicated process requiring an organized, deliberate approach to preventing and controlling potential hazards rather than detecting them. The authors of the report realized that process control and prevention was the answer, not microbiological criteria, and recommended that the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) System be adopted to ensure food safety. That system is now widely accepted as the most effective and logical way to produce the safest food possible. Microbiological testing is an active and important part of a functioning HACCP plan, but it is most likely to be effectively used in verification of said plan. Included in verification activities is validation, defined by the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food as the “element of verification focused on collecting and evaluating scientific and technical information to determine whether the HACCP plan, when properly implemented, will effectively control the defined hazards.” Before a HACCP plan can function with any level of assurance, it must be determined that all hazards have been identified and that the plan to control them is scientifically sound and will be effective. Validation, both of individual CCPs as well as the entire HACCP plan, is integral to determining the soundness of a HACCP plan, and it often requires a significant amount of microbiological testing. Let’s talk about raw products for a minute, specifically red meat. Microbiological testing can play a unique role in HACCP plan activities. However, in the production of red meat, it is generally agreed that detection of foodborne pathogens 464 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | JULY 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - July 2008

Food Protection Trends - July 2008 Contents Sustaining Members Lone Star Perspective from Your President Commentary from the Executive Director An Integrated Assay for Rapid Detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 on Beef Samples Listeria Prevention Practices for Small Cheese Operations New Members News Industry Products Award Winners Committee Meetings Ivan Parkin Lecture John H. Silliker Lecture Preliminary Program Networking Opportunities General Information Registration Form Workshops Exhibitors Special Contributors and Sponsors Coming Events Advertising Index Journal of Food Protection Table of Contents Audiovisual Library Order Form Booklet Order Form Membership Application

Food Protection Trends - July 2008

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