Food Protection Trends - August 2008 - 619

NEWS 3-A Symbol Holder Announces Plan for Corrective Actions -A Sanitary Standards, Inc. (3-A SSI) has announced that one of its 3-A Symbol licensees will undertake corrective actions for equipment manufactured under 3-A Sanitary Standard #58-00,Vacuum Breakers and Check Valves. The notice of corrective actions was sent by Chiang Sung Enterprise Co., Ltd. (CSE) to its customers concerning check valves covered in 3-A Symbol authorization #1324. The CSE notice to customers was made in accordance with provisions of the 3-A SSI requirements for 3-A Symbol authorization. The check valves subject to the corrective actions by CSE bear the 3-A Symbol and are sold under the model designations Series NR and CC and the 3-A Sanitary Standard #58-00. The actions announced by CSE apply only to equipment listed in the 3-A Symbol authorization for 3-A Sanitary Standard #58-00. CSE maintains 3-A Symbol authorizations for three other 3-A Sanitary Standards, including #65-00, Sight and/or Light Windows and Sight Indicators in Contact with Product, # 68-00, Ball-type Valves, and #63-03, Sanitary Fittings. 3-A SSI issues certificates of 3-A Symbol authorization to licensees that agree to meet specific conditions for use of the 3-A Symbol. Voluntary use of the 3-A Symbol on dairy and food equipment assures processors that equipment meets sanitary standards, provides accepted criteria to equipment manufacturers for sanitary design, and establishes guidelines for uniform evaluation and compliance by sanitarians. 3 3-A SSI maintains a list of 3-A Symbol holders, both current and discontinued, on the 3-A SSI web site at http://www.3-a.org/symbol/ holders.htm. Protecting Romaine Lettuce from Pathogens nowing the preferences of foodborne pathogens such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 is essential to a successful counterattack on these microbes. That’s why Agricultural Research Service (ARS) microbiologist Maria T. Brandl and University of California-Berkeley colleague Ronald G. Amundson are scrutinizing the little-understood ability of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica to contaminate romaine lettuce. Ms. Brandl is with the ARS Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit, part of the agency’s Western Regional Research Center in Albany, CA. In experiments, the scientists exposed romaine lettuce leaves to E. coli O157:H7 and found that, after 24 hours, populations of the microbe were 10 times higher on young leaves than on middle ones. One explanation: The young leaves offer more nutrition for E. coli. They exude about three times more nitrogen and about 1.5 times more carbon than do the middle leaves, Brandl and Amundson reported. Scientists have known for decades that plants exude compounds–from leaves and roots–that bacteria and fungi can use as food. But the romaine lettuce study, published earlier this year in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, is the first to document the different K exudate levels in romaine lettuce leaves of the two age classes. It’s also the first to show that E. coli can do more than simply bind to the leaves; it also can multiply. Adding nitrogen to the middle leaves boosted E. coli growth and further pointed to a key role of nitrogen in helping this pathogen. For that reason, a strategy that decreases nitrogen fertilizer use in romaine lettuce fields may be worth investigating, Ms. Brandl noted. According to James A. Lindsay, ARS national program leader for food safety research, commodityspecific food safety guidelines for producing and harvesting leafy greens such as lettuce have been developed. That was done through industry, government and academic collaboration, in an effort to support Good Agricultural Practices, or GAPs. Food Standards Agency Warns about Food Fraud Activity T he Food Standards Agency and police are warning food companies to be on the alert to a fraud that may have affected a number of food businesses across the country. The fraud, which involves identity theft, could result in unsafe food being offered for sale. The fraudsters are alleged to have targeted small legitimate wholesale food businesses that supply meat, seafood and fruit and vegetables. The alleged offenders work by acquiring authentic letter heads of the legitimate company and changing the telephone, email and fax details. They then contact a genuine wholesaler/importer and place a food order with them. This business, after completing credit checks, AUGUST 2008 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS 619

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Food Protection Trends - August 2008

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