Baking & Snack - November 2015 - 91

OPERATIONS
FSMA & Processing

A new AIB International protocol for validating
the kill step in baking answers FSMA's big demand:

Prove It!
by Laurie Gorton

There's something new in the neighborhood. It's not
strange, but businesswise, it's scary. For the first time
ever, bakers must validate that their ovens actually do
kill off harmful microbes. Authentication of the kill step
in food processing is front-and-center in regulations enforcing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) -
and every food plant must comply.
Get the internal temperature up to 200°F, and nothing lives. That's something every baker knows, but until
now, there was no way to prove it scientifically and in
a fashion that a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
inspector will accept. But AIB International, Manhattan,
KS, found a means to do so.
"We had to establish the foundational research. There
was zero out there," said Brian Strouts, AIB International's
vice-president, baking and food technical services.
As FDA began discussing how it would write FSMA
rules, industry concern soon centered on the need to verify that kill steps like baking dough in a hot oven really did
destroy pathogenic microorganisms. Several large wholesale baking companies approached AIB International for
advice, starting more than three years ago.
"FSMA rules issued earlier this year clearly stated the
need for validating a kill step in the food manufacturing process," said Lakshmikantha (Kantha) Channaiah,
PhD, AIB International's director of microbiology.
Obviously, it's the oven, but the industry lacked scientific
proof of this. "We asked ourselves, what would be con-

sidered essential proof? And we decided to get into this
matter," he added.
The American Bakers Association (ABA), through
its Food Technical Regulatory Affairs Committee, got
involved, too. "AIB International's kill step protocol is
closely attached to ABA's efforts," Mr. Strouts noted.

A new protocol for validating the kill step in baking
eliminates any need for
in-plant testing with live
pathogenic microbes.
Adobe Stock

Science-based
Led by Dr. Channaiah, the AIB team tapped the expertise of microbiologists at two universities, an emeritus
statistician and a Level 2 biolab to pull together the new
Kill Step Validation (KSV) protocol. It recruited Kansas
State University experts, including microbiologist Randy
Phebus, PhD, and Harshavardhan Thippareddi, PhD,
from University of Georgia-Athens.
"We needed a top-notch team," Dr. Channaiah said.
"This is the first time that validation of this sort has
been attempted."
Microbiology provided the starting point with basic facts about temperature and microbial death rates.
Different microorganisms, even different strains of the
same microbe, will vary in the amount of heat it takes
to kill them. In general, however, this starts to happen
around 120°F and finishes at about 170°F. Buns typically
bake in 425°F ovens.
"In the real world, baking usually proceeds to an internal temperature of 200°F, the temperature necessary
to set the crumb structure," Mr. Strouts explained.

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Baking & Snack - November 2015

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