Food Protection Trends - January/February 2021 - 137

Produce Safety Consequences of COVID - Dr. Jennifer McEntire,
Senior Vice President Food Safety & Technology, United Fresh
Produce Association
Through a survey sent prior to the meeting, PDG members indicated
interest in learning more about how the pandemic has impacted the produce industry and how they might contribute to efforts to assist the produce industry as a whole. Dr. McEntire discussed a wide array of impacts
to the produce industry, including consumer confidence and misperceptions, farm labor challenges, produce safety implications, research needs,
unintended consequences of the pandemic (such as a shift to more home
food delivery and home cooking), and future regulatory influence. Her
informative presentation led to an open discussion amongst PDG members. Topics brought forth by members included traceability initiatives,
e-commerce, and reaction to pathogen detection on food products and
packaging.

on Sept. 21-24, 2020 and the Spanish pilot remote course will be hosted
on Oct. 5-8, 2020. The PSA plans to evaluate these programs and
release additional dates for PSA Train-the-Trainer Courses in the near future. The PSA collaborated with the FSMA Southern Center to deliver two
Advanced PSA Trainer Workshops in 2019 and 2020. They are moving
forward in revising content, but the pandemic has prevented the scheduling of future courses due to the hands-on nature of activities built into
the course. Dr. Bihn shared training metrics, go to https://producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/training/training-reports/ and highlighted that some
changes may be made in the next reporting cycle. There was also a
reminder to trainers to update their contact https://producesafetyalliance.
cornell.edu/content/update-my-entry-trainers-only// information. The PSA
continues to move forward with international outreach activities, development of new education and extension materials, and supporting diverse
learning opportunities (i.e., translations, adaptations of the curriculum).

FDA Updates - Dr. Samir Assar, Dr. Kurt Noelte, and Dr. Karen
Killinger
Dr. Assar opened the presentation by discussing the 2020 Leafy
Greens STEC Action Plan which was issued last March. He highlighted
three outbreaks in romaine (2018 - Yuma, Santa Maria; 2019 - Salinas)
and discussed FDA key focus areas on prevention, response, and addressing knowledge gaps after these outbreaks. Prevention efforts have
focused on agricultural water safety, enhanced inspection, auditing, and
certification programs, microbial surveys and STEC detection, increased
awareness to address concerns around adjacent land use, and strengthening communication and outreach. FDA also has responded by publishing the Salinas outbreak investigation report and is conducting follow
up surveillance during the fall 2020 growing and harvest season. More
broadly, FDA is pursuing activities to promote technology, enhanced traceability, utilization of data, advanced root cause analysis, and outbreak/
recall communications. Knowledge gaps are being filled by conducting
longitudinal studies, data mining on previous outbreaks, and compost
sampling assignments in California. Dr. Kurt Noelte and Dr. Karen Killinger
discussed FDA's activities surrounding adjacent and nearby land use
issues which have been implicated in historical observations from on-farm
investigations going back to 2009. PDG members were encouraged to
reach out to Dr. Killinger and Dr. Noelte if there is information to share or
opportunities to discuss related to adjacent land use. Contact information
was provided during the presentation (see 1:09:53 of the meeting recording), go to https://transcripts.gotomeeting.com/#/s/db564778399a42ab3c29a85b0743326ba459e1da7a9c3014ad0491ff25cfa5f5.

Overview of Foodborne Outbreaks since last IAFP meeting - Dr.
Tami Cloyd, Team Lead FDA CORE Outbreak Evaluation Team
Dr. Tami Cloyd provided an update of produce related outbreaks
from July 2019 - present day. Dr. Cloyd reviewed the goals and activities of CORE team including surveillance, response, communications,
and outbreak evaluation. In the presentation, Dr. Cloyd highlighted that
CORE has responded to 33 outbreaks since the last meeting, 24 of which
were produce related (19 currently closed). 6 had vehicles confirmed, 13
had vehicles suspect. The majority of outbreaks were associated with
Romaine lettuce (5); other outbreaks involved blackberries, a combination
of raspberries and blackberries, strawberries, herbs, mushrooms, mango,
cut fruit, diced tomatoes, and sprouts. The produce originated from both
domestic and international sources. Produce-related outbreak pathogens
included Listeria monocytogenes, E. coli, Salmonella, Cyclospora, and
Hepatitis A. Three outbreaks were still in response during the last annual
meeting including melons, vegetable trays, and papayas - all which were
caused by Salmonella. One outbreak of interest associated with enoki
mushrooms was reviewed. FDA is also actively investigating another
multi-state outbreak associated with Salmonella infections and wood ear
mushrooms. Additional outbreaks currently in response include pre-packaged salad mix (Cyclospora), red onions (Salmonella Newport), and
peaches (Salmonella Enteritidis).

Sprout Safety Alliance, Dr. Kaiping Deng, IFSH/IL Institute of Technology
Dr. Kaiping Deng, IFSH/IL Institute of Technology, provided the
update. Her presentation started by reporting on Sprout Safety Alliance
go to https://www.ifsh.iit.edu/ssa training activities. 104 sprout operations
have attended the training, including 158 individuals. In addition, 61 federal regulators (federal, state, and international), and 3 supermarket chain
managers have attended the training. The SSA has approved 34 trainers
across the U.S. 11 are from universities, 8 are state regulators, 10 are
consultants (domestic and international), and 5 are sprout growers. Trainers are available to conduct trainings in English, Spanish, Chinese, and
Korean. New this year is the SSA Virtual Training due to the pandemic.
This training is now broken in to 2 four-hour sessions delivered on Zoom
with group exercises and knowledge checks. Pre- and post-training assessments were discussed. Other outreach activities included 2 webinars
(Listeria concerns and testing requirements). SSA is also developing
a video series, though progress has halted due to the pandemic. SSA
continues to provide updates via their newsletters and technical support
through the SSA TAN.
Produce Safety Alliance, Dr. Betsy Bihn, Cornell University
Dr. Betsy Bihn provided the update for the Produce Safety Alliance
and began by discussing COVID-19 priorities and impacts. This included
keeping the PSA Grower Training accessible through online and remote
courses, supporting trainers by offering extra office hours and mentoring
for remote trainings, and sharing COVID-19 facts through industry office
hours, FAQs, and guidance documents. Dr. Bihn noted for attendees
that course terminology is important as each of the course types are very
different (in-person, remote, or online). The PSA is hosting a series of
refresher webinars for PSA Trainers starting on Oct. 1 through the end of
November. Each session is one hour long and hosted on Thursdays at
12 p.m. ET. More information about the series can be found on the PSA
website go to, https://producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/training/trainer-updates/. The first pilot remote Train-the-Trainer Course was hosted

Student PDG Updates - Dr. Cameron Bardsley
Dr. Cameron Bardsley provided the update on behalf of the IAFP
Student PDG. There is a 3-minute thesis competition that is happening
- including two rounds. Finalists will be selected to present in a webinar
held in November (date TBD). Submissions will be accepted until Oct.
4, 2020. If PDG members have any opportunities for students, feel free
to reach out to the Student PDG leadership. Dr. Bardsley also acknowledged the upcoming symposia and roundtables organized by the Student
PDG, and encourages all PDG members to attend the 2020 sessions
or work towards co-sponsorship of sessions for 2021. There also are
changes in leadership that have occurred. The new Chair is Minh Duong,
Vice Chair is Erika Estrada. Dr. Bardsley encourages all PDG members
to become active in the Mentor/Mentee program. Last year, there were
36 mentoring matches between student and professional members.
PDG Updates - 2020 Meeting & Planning for 2021
The FVSQ PDG session schedule for the 2020 Annual Meeting was
shared with meeting attendees. The PDG sponsored 2 roundtables and
10 symposia for the 2020 meeting. Proposals for 2021 are due on Nov.
10, 2020. There is a discussion post set up on IAFP Connect for FVSQ
PDG members to discuss and collaborate on potential proposals. Please
contact the FVSQ Chairs no later than October 30, 2020 for review and
approval prior to your submission. There is also opportunity to host webinars and additional educational opportunities in 2021. If you have ideas,
please share them with Gretchen or Kristin.
Recommendations to the Executive Board:
1. Recommend to the Board that Kristin Esch, Michigan Department
of Agriculture and Rural Development, be approved as Vice Chair
of the PDG.
2. Continue to offer free webinars sponsored by the IAFP Foundation
to increase PDG accessibility to learning opportunities.
Next Meeting Date: July 18-21, 2021, Phoenix, Arizona.
Meeting Adjourned: 4:10 p.m. Eastern Time.
Chairperson: Gretchen Wall.

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https://producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/training/training-reports/ https://producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/training/training-reports/ https://producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/content/update-my-entry-trainers-only/information https://producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/content/update-my-entry-trainers-only/information https://transcripts.gotomeeting.com/#/s/db564778399a42ab-3c29a85b0743326ba459e1da7a9c3014ad0491ff25cfa5f5 https://transcripts.gotomeeting.com/#/s/db564778399a42ab-3c29a85b0743326ba459e1da7a9c3014ad0491ff25cfa5f5 https://www.ifsh.iit.edu/ssa https://producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/training/trainer-up-dates/ https://producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu/training/trainer-up-dates/

Food Protection Trends - January/February 2021

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