Assessment of food allergen management in small food facilities

In terms of public health, food allergen management (FAM) is one of the major areas of food safety management, required by standardised food safety management systems (FSMSs). This study involved performing an evaluation of the scope of application of FAM and identification of non-conformity areas in 24 small food production facilities where FSMSs are implemented. Conformity with the 41 criteria was evaluated by the semi-structured interview method with direct on-site observation. The percentile Conformance Index (CI) and the relative Conformance Index (CI_REL) were established, calculated by the relativisation methods (i.e. evaluation and metrisation), applied in quality engineering. The highest level of non-conformities in the 7 groups of criteria established in the form of a questionnaire was found in Cleaning (CI 29.6–47.2%, CI_REL 0.03–0.32), Transport & Storage (CI 30.6–54.2%, CI_REL 0.05–0.69) and Hazard Awareness (CI 27.8–59.3%, CI_REL 0–0.52). Factors which make it difficult to implement FAM included access to the validated methods of assessment of cleaning effectiveness in removing specific allergens, as well as good practices in separation of allergenic and non-allergenic materials during transport and storage, and personnel training in allergen control. These findings show clearly that implementation and certification of standardised FSMSs is a guarantee of implementation of FAM on a higher level of conformity with the evaluation criteria compared to those facilities which apply only the Codex HACCP principles. The conformity indexes CI and CI_REL proposed in this paper can be applied not only to determine the areas of non-conformity for FAM, but they can also be used to characterise and monitor FAM-related elements of FSMSs as part of self-evaluation and continuous improvement.     

Food safety knowledge of foodservice workers at a university campus by education level,experience, and food safety training

Food safety knowledge of university foodservice workers was evaluated and the relationship between food safety knowledge and education level, length of employment, and food safety training was assessed using a 40-item food safety questionnaire. Each knowledge question was scored as “1” for a correct answer and as “0” for an incorrect answer. The relationships between the level of education and food safety knowledge scores and length of employment in the foodservice industry and food safety knowledge scores were determined using bivariate correlation analysis. A total of 63.5% of the respondents had limited knowledge, 79% were well-informed about hygiene practices, while 33.9% of persons knew of correct time-temperature control measures. Kendall's tau = 0.067; p = 0.294 revealed a lack of strength of the relationship between education level and food safety knowledge. The relationship between length of employment and food safety knowledge was Kendall's tau = −0.133; p = 0.121. No mean differences (p = 0.426) were observed for mean knowledge scores between groups of food safety trained and untrained persons. Neither education level, nor the length of employment in the foodservice industry had a significant impact on food safety knowledge. The authors recommend that in order to improve food safety knowledge, attention should be given to the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluating food safety education programs.     

Food safety knowledge among food service staff in hospitals in Jordan

This study aimed to measure food safety knowledge among food service staff in hospitals in Jordan. A total of 532 food service personal (dietitians, cooks and food workers) from 37 hospitals (public, private, and university hospitals) were conveniently selected to participate in this cross sectional study. The participants completed a questionnaire composed of two parts (general characteristics and food safety knowledge). The overall food safety knowledge of food service staff is fair with a mean score of 56.3 out of 90 points (62.5%). Respondents had sufficient knowledge on “cross contamination prevention and sanitation” aspect, while they had very poor to good knowledge on “foodborne pathogens and related symptoms and illnesses”, “safe storage, thawing, cooking, holding and reheating of the foods”, “health problems that would affect food safety” and “personal hygiene” aspects. There were no significant associations between the total food safety knowledge score and age, educational level, marital status, income, experience, nature of work and attending course(s) on food safety. Respondents from public hospitals and who believed that HACCP is not important for food safety had significantly lower food safety knowledge score than those from private sector (OR: 3.3, CI: 1.76–6.01) and those who believed that HACCP is important (OR: 3, CI: 1.64–5.36), respectively. Food workers and respondents who have experience ≤48 months had significantly lower food safety knowledge score than dietitians (OR: 2.6, CI: 1.33–5.2) and those who have experience > 48 months (OR: 1.9, CI: 1.06–3.51), respectively. There is an urgent need for tailored food safety education and training programs that improve food safety knowledge of food service staff in hospitals in Jordan.     

Food safety and quality management regulatory systems in Afghanistan: Policy gaps,governance and barriers to success

Afghanistan has significant competitive advantages in agribusiness. Much has been said about Afghanistan's unrealized potential in this sector over the years and many specialists have highlighted challenges in infrastructure, access to finance, and inadequate legislation as barriers to growth in the sector. Many have also pointed to its potential productivity increase as a way to help alleviate food security issues. With adequate access to finance and infrastructure, Afghanistan should in theory be a top exporting country in all agricultural sectors. The potential also exists for Afghanistan to be a top exporter of high-margin products like fruits, meat, dairy and vegetable processing. In order to realize this potential, however, stronger food safety control needs to be in place to export to markets. In Afghanistan, food safety practices are still based on experiences from the late 1970s. Companies face constant pressure from the crisis, market competition from importing companies, pricing pressure from retailers, and seemingly endless inspections from government bodies. In fact, there are three main state agencies (Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, and Municipalities) that regularly inspect food companies, often performing the same functions and loading these already cash-strapped enterprises with unneeded administrative burden. There are still important issues to be addressed within the food safety system of Afghanistan, such as: complete harmonization of legislation with the regional (legislation and standards mainly), improvement of coordination among authorities; ability to ensure impartiality of inspection work; thorough training of inspectors and implementation of skills, especially towards risk-based inspection control; reform of sampling schemes for food of non-animal origin and imported food commodities; strengthening surveillance of foodborne diseases, control of adulterated foods; and supporting the introduction of self-inspection systems based on HACCP principles and good hygienic practices.     

Food safety management system performance in the lamb chain

This study describes a performance measurement of implemented food safety management system (FSMS) along the lamb chain using an FSMS-diagnostic instrument (FSMS-DI) and a Microbiological Assessment Scheme (MAS). Three slaughterhouses, 1 processing plant and 5 butcher shops were evaluated. All the actors along the lamb chain achieved a moderate risky contextual situation, operating in a basic-average FSMS, which was not enough to obtain a good food safety output. Different suggestions are advised for each actor along the lamb chain for improvements towards higher FSMS activity levels or lower risk levels in context characteristics. The combined assessment is a useful tool to identify the possible causes of poor food safety performance in the lamb chain using few sampling locations, saving time and money.     

Food safety modernization act: A quality management approach to identify and prioritize factors affecting adoption of preventive controls among small food facilities

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was signed into law in the United States in 2011, shifting the existing food safety focus from a reactive to a preventive approach. According to literature, legislative requirements of FSMA can be challenging for small food facilities affected by the regulations immediately or in near future. Thus, the purpose of this research was to utilize quality management tools to identify and prioritize major challenges faced by small food facilities in adopting the preventive controls' component of the FSMA legislation. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews of food industry representatives and academic professionals from the Midwest region of the United States. An affinity diagram was used to identify the set of challenges that emerged from the interviews, following which a weighted multi-voting survey was used to prioritize the identified challenges. Major identified challenges included: understanding of the FSMA law, cost of implementation, timeline for implementation, employee preparedness, absence of quality culture, and employee willingness. Furthermore, a difference was observed in how industry representatives and academic professionals rank ordered the above-listed challenges.     

Food handlers’ knowledge on food hygiene: The case of a catering company in Portugal

The aim of this study was to assess the food hygiene knowledge of professional food handlers from an institutional catering company which manufactures and distributes meals to the canteens of schools, kindergartens and nursing homes in Portugal. A total of 101 food handlers from 18 geographically distributed business units were assessed. Data collection employed a previously used, multiple-choice questionnaire, aimed at exploring the food safety knowledge and practices of individual respondents. The average score of questions answered correctly was 13 out of 23 (56.5%) with a standard deviation (SD) of 3.22. However, the percentage of correct answers varies with the issues questioned, being significantly lower on issues such as temperature control (p < 0.001) and sources of contamination/high-risk foods (p < 0.001). The level of knowledge was influenced by the level of formal education (p = 0.025) of respondents. The results reinforce the importance of conducting a preliminary assessment of training needs and evaluating the effectiveness of training.     

Food safety knowledge,attitudes and practices of street food vendors and consumers in Ho Chi Minh city,Vietnam

This study had the major objective of evaluating the food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices of consumers and vendors of street foods in Ho Chi Minh City (MCMC), Vietnam. There were three main surveys performed in this study. A total of 120 consumers and 40 street food vendors from four districts [Binh Thanh (BT), Thu Duc (TD), district 3 (D3) and district 8 (D8)] in HCMC contributed to the study on a voluntary basis. The surveyed consumers had adequate levels of food safety knowledge and attitudes. No significant difference (p > 0.05) occurred between the food safety knowledge levels of the consumers on the basis of gender. However, significant differences (p < 0.05) occurred on the basis of age, education level, food safety training status and location. In contrast, the street vendors had poor food safety knowledge and attitude levels. No significant differences (p > 0.05) were observed in the food safety knowledge levels of the vendors on the basis of gender and age. However, significant differences (p < 0.05) were found on the basis of food safety training status and education level. It was also noted that the vast majority (95%) of the vendors had not received any food safety training. With regards to the practices, it was determined that 52.5% of the vending sites were open air stands without any protection from the sun, wind and dust. 52.5% the vending stalls had no direct access to potable water, while 47.5% did not have adequate hand washing facilities and a further 30% lacked proper waste water and food disposal facilities. In addition, 52.5% of the vendors did not separate raw, partially cooked food and cooked food products. These findings highlighted that street food vendors in HCMC generally have poor food handling practices and most are operating under unhygienic conditions. These results should provide the Vietnamese government with even more reasons to increase their current efforts to improve the safety of street foods and food safety awareness of the consumers.     

Protective effect of Streptococcus thermophilus CCFM218 against house dust mite allergy in a mouse model

House dust mite allergy accounts for a majority of severe allergic asthma cases, and there is a need for new prevention and treatment strategies. Specific probiotics have shown beneficial effects in the treatment of allergic diseases, owning to their inherent immunomodulatory properties. To obtain new and effective anti-allergy probiotics, cytokine profiles of 25 lactic acid bacteria strains were measured by in vitro co-culture with mice spleen cells. Of the various strains, strong IL-10-inducing Streptococcus thermophilus CCFM218 (ST218) significantly suppressed IL-4 secretion in vitro and was postulated to have a better anti-allergy effect in vivo. To determine the anti-allergy property of ST218, its protective effect on allergic response was evaluated in a mouse allergy model together with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. In contrast to LGG, ST218 had a better suppressive effect on allergic response in vivo, characterized by increased specific IgG2a and IL-10 levels in serum, regulatory T cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes and a reduction in serum Th2 cytokine IL-4. It indicated that ST218 was an excellent anti-allergy strain that can be favorable to use in the treatment or prevention of allergic diseases.     

比较与借鉴：英美社会保障机制

建立和完善有效的社会保障机制，是我国深化国有企业改革，实现两人根本转变的关键一环，通过对英美两国的社会保障机制的比较研究，吸附其成功经验，对于我国在市场经济条件下构客完善社会保障机制，兼顾公平与效率原则，防止遭遇英国式的“高福利”病和避免美国式的“贫富度悬殊”症，是一个有益的借鉴。     

Refinery Cost Functions in the U.S. Gulf Coast

Abstract

Construction cost functions for the main process units that comprise a refinery are developed. The cost estimates pertain exclusively to grassroots construction; are limited to equipment inside the battery limits; and include materials and labor, design, engineering, contractor's fees, overhead, and expense allowance. The methodological framework, data sources, and normalization procedures used for cost estimation is presented, followed by a discussion of the limitations of analysis. This material updates and extends the investment cost curves presented by Gary and Handwerk in a previous publication.     

美国输气管道的建设成本

在当今世界天然气管道建设中，美国是数量最多、技术最先进的国家。本文介绍了美国输气管道的建设成本，对美国输气管道建设的设计成本与实际成本进行了比较。     

Operation and performance of a National Monitoring Network for Radioactivity in Food

In the Netherlands, the EU-mandated nationwide monitoring programme and emergency response plan for radioactivity in food is implemented by RIKILT (the Dutch institute for food safety) by means of the National Monitoring Network for Radioactivity in Food (LMRV). The LMRV consists of 48 individual gamma spectrometers (Food Monitoring System, or FMS) that require little maintenance, are hosted at food processing companies and institutes throughout the Netherlands, and are operated by local personnel. From 2010 to 2013, approximately 900 samples of milk and 500 samples of other food categories were analysed on the FMSs annually, and another 1400 in the specialized radionuclide laboratories operated by RIKILT. The anthropogenic radionuclide cesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs) was detected in 93 out of 11,143 samples (0.8%), mostly in wild mushrooms, game and honey. Two samples of wild boar exceeded the limit of 600 Bq/kg. In case of a nuclear accident the FMSs are used to validate the radioactive deposition calculated by dispersion models by measuring radionuclides in grass samples. No deposition of artificial radionuclides was measured in the Netherlands after the Fukushima nuclear incident. The precision of the FMSs is within the pre-set tolerance limits of 80–120% for ¹³⁷Cs, cobalt-60 (⁶⁰Co) and iodine-131 (¹³¹I). For potassium-40 (⁴⁰K) a systematic error of +10% was observed. The recalibration of the FMSs in 2012 resulted in a reduction of almost 40% in the variation of the precision for ¹³¹I (compared to 2010 and 2011). This article describes the network and the individual FMSs, the routine measurements of food and special measurements in case of radioactive contamination, and the performance of the network.     

美国页岩气勘探开发最新进展

页岩气储层的基质渗透率非常低,并且存在次生矿物填充的簇状“天然”裂缝。页岩气藏储量包括基质吸附的天然气量和裂缝、孔隙中储存的自由气量。美国的页岩气作为一个全球规模的能源安全源和长期供气源,其水平井钻井技术和低黏度水力压裂技术开启了原来被认为是没有商业价值的页岩气这个巨大的储备资源宝库。为此,从ALL咨询公司整理的报告以及SPE网站公布的论文入手,对比并评估了煤层气、常规天然气和页岩气储层的关键参数,阐述了美国页岩气的最新勘探开发状况,对主要页岩气藏的重要参数进行了归纳分析,重点对推动页岩气开发的水平井钻井技术和水力压裂技术进行了剖析,以期达到对我国的页岩气勘探开发提供借鉴的目的。     

Semi-quantitative study to evaluate the performance of a HACCP-based food safety management system in Japanese milk processing plants

This study aimed to gain an insight in the performance of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)-based food safety management systems (FSMS) implemented in Japanese milk processing plants. Since 1995, Japan has a comprehensive approval system for food manufacturing establishments by evaluating the development and implementation of GHP and HACCP by the food manufacturing companies/operators. An FSMS-diagnostic instrument was applied to assess the level of the core control and assurance activities in the FSMS and to judge the risk level of the context wherein the companies operate. The data were collected in 13 dairy companies (mostly located around Tokyo area) and involved in-depth interviews performed (by the National Institute of Public Health) with responsible quality assurance persons of respective companies.The results revealed that the microbial food safety output was higher for companies with national HACCP approval. They have more advanced FSMS in combination with a less risky context. All Japanese companies scored high on technology-dependent activities (i.e. preventive measures and intervention processes), but less in managerial activities as monitoring and typical quality assurance activities as validation and verification of the FSMS. Japan has a detailed vertical legislation, leading to a “hazard-based” and ”legislation-based” FSMS compared to a “science- or risk-based” FSMS common in Europe.     

Implementation of a food safety management system according to ISO 22000 in the food supplement industry: A case study

This work aims to present a methodology to carry out hazard and control measures assessments to properly establish operational prerequisite programmes (oPRPs) and the HACCP plan in the food supplement industry according to the ISO 22000 standard. This study focused on the manufacture of propolis, royal jelly and vitamin C ampoules, sold as energy boosters. Seven of the 13 hazards identified in this study were significant: two hazards were in the reception step (residues of pesticides, antibiotics and/or heavy metals (code 2) and contamination by pathogens (code 3)), two in the ingredients weighing step (cross-contamination by metabisulphite (code 9) and contamination by pathogens (code 10)), one in the mixture preparation step (contamination by pathogens and/or proliferation of microorganisms (code 11)) and two in the ampoule-filling and -sealing step (cross-contamination by metabisulphite (code 12) and contamination by pathogens (code 13)). After assessing the control measures, critical control points (CCPs) were determined in the hazards with codes 2, 9 and 12, which could be managed by an HACCP plan. The remaining hazards were managed by establishing oPRPs. Implementation of the ISO 22000 standard in the food supplement industry guarantees food safety and helps improve their competitiveness in the global market.     

美国PMC公司管加工机床的技术特点

从设计原理，结构和性能等方面分析了美国ＰＭＣ公司制造的这车丝机，接箍车丝机，切管机和接箍切断机等主要石油专用管材加工机床的技术特点，在概托其先进性的同时，也指出其存在的不足之处。     

Barriers and benefits to the adoption of a third party certified food safety management system in the food processing sector in Shanghai,China

Despite the recent passing of legislation by the National People's Congress of China in 2009, many food businesses in China have yet to implement a third party certified food safety management system (FSMS). While the extent literature identifies a number of internal and external barriers and benefits, the extent to which these impact on the business is thought to be dependent upon how much progress the firm has made on its journey towards quality assurance and the environment within which the firm operates. To test this proposition, the barriers and the benefits accrued from the implementation of a third party certified FSMS were explored by segregating the participating firms into three distinct groups; (i) those that have yet to implement a third party certified FSMS; (ii) those that were in the process of adopting a third party certified FSMS; and (iii) those that were already operating under a third party certified FSMS. Contrary to expectations, in what is a highly competitive market, those firms which were operating under a third party certified FSMS were more likely to question the benefits they had derived than those firms that were either in the process of adoption or had chosen not to adopt a third party certified FSMS. Irrespective of the stage of adoption, the major constraint to the implementation of a third party certified FSMS was the need for the organisation to focus on more immediate issues and the lack of any strategic long-term planning.     

美国页岩油勘探开发现状与前景展望

系统介绍了美国页岩油（致密油）勘探开发现状与发展前景。目前，美国页岩油区带分布广泛，遍及二叠盆地、威利斯顿盆地、墨西哥湾盆地和阿纳达科盆地等。页岩油储量总体呈增长趋势，2017年末页岩油证实储量占全美石油证实储量的比例接近50%。美国页岩油产量主要来自二叠盆地、巴肯和伊格尔福特三大页岩油区，目前其产量占全美页岩油产量的近80%；有利地质条件是这三大页岩油区发展的基础。受2014年油价暴跌影响，美国页岩油气作业钻机明显减少，页岩油产量有所下降；但自2016年中期开始，产量恢复增长，屡创新高。美国待发现的页岩油资源丰富，具有良好的发展潜力。根据预测，未来10年页岩油产量还将持续增长，是美国原油产量增长的主要来源。     

美国西部盆地煤层气钻井和完井技术

美国钻煤层气井技术较成熟。介绍了美国西部盆地煤层气井的钻井、完井工艺技术,指出了裸眼造穴适应的条件是高渗透率、煤岩易破碎和储层存在高压。对裸眼造穴完井工艺过程进行了具体地介绍,对下套管水力压裂工艺进行了分析评价。