Food Protection Trends - August 2009 - 493

GENERAL INTEREST PAPER Control of Salmonella in Low-moisture Foods III: Process Validation and Environmental Monitoring part three of a three-part series Yuhuan Chen,1 Virginia n. SCott,1 timothY a. Freier,2 JeFF Kuehm,3 marK moorman,4 JoSeph meYer,4 theodora morille-hindS,5 laurie poSt,6 leS Smoot,7 SCott hood,8 JoSeph ShebuSKi2 and JeFF banKS9 grocery manufacturers assn., 1350 i St. nW, Suite 300, Washington, d.C. 20005, uSa;2 Cargill, p.o. box 5665, mS 65, minneapolis, mn 55440, uSa; 3Frito-lay, 7701 legacy drive, plano, tX 75024, uSa; 4 the Kellogg Company, 235 porter St., battle Creek, mi 49014, uSa; 5Kraft Foods, inc., 555 South broadway, tarrytown, nY 10591, uSa; 6mars Snackfood uS, 800 high St., hackettstown, nJ 07840, uSa; 7nestlé uSa, 6625 eiterman road, dublin, oh 43017, uSa; 8 general mills, inc., 9000 plymouth ave. north, mS 18d1, minneapolis, mn 55427, uSa; 9Cadbury, bournville place, birmingham, b30 2lu, uK 1 ABSTRACT although low-moisture food products do not support Salmonella growth, the presence of low numbers of Salmonella can still cause illness. therefore, the presence of the organism in low-moisture ready-to-eat foods must be prevented. to address the need for industrywide guidance, the grocery manufacturers association formed a Salmonella Control task Force to develop guidance on the control of Salmonella when manufacturing lowmoisture foods. Five of the control elements were covered in previous papers: preventing ingress or spread in a facility, controlling raw materials and ingredients, adhering to stringent hygiene practices in the primary Salmonella Control area, following hygienic design principles, and preventing growth in the facility by control of moisture. here we address validation of control measures to inactivate Salmonella and verification of control through environmental monitoring. SALMONELLA CONTROL ELEMENT 6: VALIDATE CONTROL MEASURES TO INACTIVATE SALMONELLA When a lethality step is needed to inactivate Salmonella in a low-moisture product or ingredient, the processing parameters used should be adequate to inactivate the level of the organism likely to be present. according to the national advisory Committee on microbiological Criteria for Foods (naCmCF), validation encompasses collecting and evaluating scientific data and technical information to demonstrate that the control measures and associated critical limits at the lethality step, when followed, will result in a safe product (43). in addition, it is necessary to demonstrate that the chosen control measure and critical limits can be applied in production at a critical control point. Validation of lethality steps for low-moisture foods involves determining an appropriate log reduction for Salmonella, determining the critical limits in the process required to achieve the reduction, and confirming that the process equipment consistently delivers the critical limit parameters in the operation (43, 52). In general, NACMCF’s definition for pasteurization (44) can be used to guide the determination of an appropriate level of log reduction. With respect to a lowmoisture product, NACMCF’s definition translates into applying any process, treatment, or combination thereof to reduce the most resistant Salmonella serotype “to a level that is not likely to present a public health risk under normal conditions of distribution and storage.” naCmCF also indicated that a control measure aimed at inactivating the target pathogen does not protect the consumer if the product is subsequently recontaminated during manufacturing. the effective approach to prevent recontamination is through good hygiene practices verified by environmental monitoring (see element 7) to ensure that recontamination is not likely to occur. the level of reduction required will depend on the potential levels of Salmonella, if present, in the raw ingredients. efforts have been made to set an appropriate level of log reduction for a specific low-moisture product based on a risk assessment. For example, a risk assessment (16) conducted to assess the risk of salmonellosis from almond consumption was used to determine that a 4-log reduction of Salmonella in raw almonds is adequate to ensure safety of the finished product (6). in some instances, historical knowledge is used as the basis for validation (49). For example, pasteurization at 72°C for 15 s is considered adequate to inactivate expected levels of vegetative pathogens of concern in raw milk. these parameters may be used as the critical limits or as the basis to establish other process parameters as critical limits at the lethality step to inactivate Salmonella in the fluid milk ingredient for a dried milk product; preventing recontamination after pasteurization during drying and subsequent handling would be essential to protect the finished dried product from recontamination. both industry guidelines (22) and FSiS regulations in 9 CFr 590.575 (12) set parameters for the pasteurization AUGUST 2009 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS 493
Food Protection Trends - August 2009

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