Food Protection Trends - November 2008 - (Page 801)

deaths associated with eating bagged fresh spinach in the fall of 2006 brought consumer awareness to the vulnerability the fresh-cut produce industry has in ensuring safe bagged, ready-to-eat products. Food safety researchers have during the past decade obtained a wealth of information regarding the increased risks associated with produce that has been cut, shredded, diced or peeled. Among their findings is that fresh-cut produce is essentially wounded plant tissue, and that microbes attach more easily to cut or bruised vegetable and fruit surfaces than on intact produce. Furthermore, cut surfaces of produce release large amounts of liquid containing nutrients that are readily utilized by attached microbes, including foodborne pathogens, and these leaking juices interfere with the bactericidal activity of many disinfectants during the initial and subsequent wash steps. For example, treating cut lettuce with chlorine at concentrations of up to 200 ppm for 5 min only reduces E. coli O157:H7 populations by about 1 log CFU or less. Additionally, fresh-cut produce is known to be temperature abused during retail display and in the home, which are conditions that can allow substantial growth of pathogens like salmonellae or enterohemorrhagic E. coli. Most bagged freshcut produce is intended to be ready-to-eat, i.e., simply opened and consumed without an additional antimicrobial treatment such as cooking, hence there is no subsequent protective measure to ensure safety should the product be contaminated with microbial pathogens. Neither processors nor consumers presently have a treatment available that assures the microbiological safety of fresh, especially fresh-cut, produce contaminated with large populations of foodborne pathogens. Electron beam, gamma or x-ray irradiation may be a partial solution; however, many present-day consumers are unlikely to purchase produce that carries a label indicating it has been irradiated. In addition, there are still lingering questions regarding acceptable packaging for irradiated produce and product quality, especially of irradiation-sensitive leafy greens. In summary, we now know that fresh produce is increasingly responsible for outbreaks of foodborne illness and that some foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella can contaminate produce-growing areas and produce for weeks to months, depending on conditions. Furthermore, current production and processing practices cannot be relied upon to ensure pathogen-free fresh and fresh-cut produce. Hence is the challenge for the food safety community, i.e., to develop and implement more effective food safety interventions, ideally effective critical control points in a HACCP system, throughout production, processing, and distribution that will ensure the safety of fresh and fresh-cut produce. A second major weakness in the United States’ food safety net is the microbiological issues associated with many of its imported foods. Unbeknownst to many, 2004 was the first year on record that the USA imported more food than it exported. In 2006, approximately 15% of food consumed in the US was imported. The greatest surge in US imports has been from horticultural products, with approximately 45% of fruits and 16% of vegetables imported in 2005. In 2001, about 85% of fresh and frozen fish and seafood, 49% of tree nuts, 40% of lamb, and 12% of beef were imported. Reasons for the growth in food imports includes reduced labor costs, climatic and seasonal conditions for production, water availability for crop irrigation, and land availability and costs. Mexico is the major US supplier of imported vegetables, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico and Ecuador of fruit, India, Vietnam, Brazil, and Mexico of tree nuts, China, Thailand, and Ecuador of shrimp and tilapia. Countries with the greatest rates of growth in agricultural products supplied to the United States are China and Brazil. A range of microbiological safety issues is associated with many foods imported into the United States but they largely revolve around inadequate sanitation practices used for food production, harvesting or processing. Improper processing conditions such as unsuitable canning equipment or inadequate canning temperatures and times are additional concerns. Pathogen contamination of produce, such as Salmonella Saintpaul on jalapeño and serrano peppers and hepatitis A viruses on green onions all grown in Mexico, are examples of which the American public is well aware. Pathogens can contaminate produce through a variety of sources. The origin of most enteric foodborne pathogens is untreated manure or sewage from asymptomatic or symptomatic animal or human intestinal carriers. Such contaminated feces may be used as a soil amendment to fertilize crops, may contaminate irrigation water used for watering crops, may be present in processing water used to wash and clean vegetables and fruits, or may contaminate vegetables and fruits during harvesting by infected food handlers who have poor hygienic practices. Specific examples of improper food safety practices associated with imported produce include: (i) the widespread practice in east Asia, of using untreated human excreta on farmland, (ii) the use in Mexico of irrigation water from rivers that contain untreated human sewage (about 90% of the sewage from Mexico City’s more than 25 NOVEMBER 2008 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS 801

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

Food Protection Trends - November 2008 Contents Sustaining Members Perspectives from Your President Commentary from the Executive Director Biofilm Formation of Listeria monocytogenes on Various Conveyor Belt Surfaces Third-Party Certification of Agro-Products in China:�A Study of Agro-Product Producers in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Qingdao IAFP 2008 in Review Award Winners 3M Microbiology - Black Pearl Award Winner Ivan Parkin Lecture - Russell S. Flowers John H. Silliker Lecture - Michael P. Doyle Student Travel Scholarships Session Summaries Highlights of the Executive Board Meeting Minutes of the 95th Annual Business Meeting Committee Minutes Executive Board Response to Committee Recommendations Exhibitors of IAFP 2008 Special Contributors and Sponsors Call for Awards - IAFP 2009 New Members What's Happening in Food Safety Industry Products Coming Events Advertising Index Journal of Food Protection Table of Contents Audiovisual Library Order Form Booklet Order Form Membership Application

Food Protection Trends - November 2008

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