A risk-based pesticide residue monitoring tool to prioritize the sampling of fresh produce

Pesticide residues remain a key issue in food safety for consumers. Accordingly, pesticide residue monitoring at all stages of the food chain gains importance. In Europe, fresh produce processing and trading companies are requested to have a company-specific sampling plan that covers all on-site food safety risk issues. In settings where the prevalence of contamination is known and there are a limited number of suppliers, statistical sampling plans are easily designed based on theoretical calculations. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the current setting of fresh produce. In order to provide a workable alternative, empirical guidelines for the design of a risk-based sampling plan, applicable in a broad range of realistic scenarios, are established. These guidelines are based on the opinions of experts regarding the relative importance with respect to risk regarding five criteria related to products and suppliers. These criteria are: supplier guarantee, country of origin, cross-contamination, and processing and product risk. The opinions of the experts are aggregated in order to yield a weighted-sum-based risk indicator. This can facilitate the risk assessment of new scenarios and sample size calculations. While these guidelines for the design of a risk-based sampling plan do not provide guarantees for a statistically demonstrated level of safety, the plan has been proven to be a useable tool during validation. Finally, the use of this tool is demonstrated in a case study.     

Practical considerations on food safety objectives

The concept of food safety objectives (FSO) is very strong in that it may make food safety transparent and quantifiable. This brings a major advantage in that one can ensure food safety at the process where it is the most effective in meeting the overall integrated objective. A practical overview is given how to derive FSOs from population health goals, through product group health objectives. Then these FSOs can be used to assign the responsibilities over the various parts of the food chain, and within one part of the chain over the various process stages, linking finally the limits of the CCPs in HACCP to the overall public health objective. Determination of characteristic numbers (log change in numbers) can help to supply the quantification of the various parts. Finally, the impact of the statistical distribution of the concentration of pathogens in foods is taken into account, and how it impacts compliance to an FSO.     

Use of food safety objectives to satisfy the intent of food safety law

Corporate food safety objectives and a HACCP based management system were used to resolve a simple, but very costly, conflict between the strict interpretation of food safety regulations and the commercial ability to serve safe food that fulfils the intent of the law. A case study will be presented in which rare roast beef was removed from the menu after health authorities found that the product was served at less than 60 °C, a violation of national regulations.A risk assessment and risk management strategy specific for serving rare roast beef was developed. The documentation clearly and scientifically demonstrates how physical processes for cooking, hot holding, service and cooling were validated to support the company's commitment to food safety and business excellence. Working instructions for each step of preparation and service of rare roast beef were validated. A specific HACCP plan was developed to manage the daily adherence to the working instructions. This HACCP plan is integrated into an overall systems approach to daily kitchen routines, so as not to place undue burdens on staff or management. Food safety objectives enable the company to communicate why the procedures to serve rare roast beef are safe. This rational approach to linking the explanation of procedures with safety is important for internal training, long-term program stability and external public relations.     

Effective sampling strategy to detect food and feed contamination: Herbs and spices case

Sampling plans for food safety hazards are aimed to be used to determine whether a lot of food is contaminated (with microbiological or chemical hazards) or not. One of the components of sampling plans is the sampling strategy. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of three different sampling strategies, being simple random sampling (SRS), stratified random sampling (STRS), and systematic sampling (SS), with each other for their probability of detecting a heterogeneously distributed contamination in a lot of herbs or spices (i.e., a dry food product). To this end, a simulation model was developed, and applied to different scenarios for contamination level and numbers of samples collected. In addition, as a case study, the sampling plan of a company processing herbs and spices was evaluated using the simulation model. Results showed that the effectiveness of the sampling plan is influenced by the sampling strategy. With expected low contamination levels the SS strategy performs better than the two other strategies. At higher expected contaminated levels, the STRS strategy is preferred.     

HACCP-based program for on-farm food safety for pig production in Australia

The standard Codex HACCP approach was modified to allow a hazard analysis and critical control point determination to be conducted at an industry level and then used to determine the appropriate on-farm food safety control measures for pig production in Australia. A detailed risk-based profile with hazard identification, hazard characterisation and levels of microbial contamination for production and primary processing was used as a major technical resource to inform HACCP determinations. The process resulted in the identification of Critical Control Points for control of a specific physical hazard (non-recovered broken needles) and prevention of violations of Maximum Residue Limits with agricultural and veterinary chemicals. In relation to the identified microbiological hazards, it was noted that there are numerous Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to prevent and/or reduce their risk and these controls would also need to be a feature of any on-farm food safety program. By applying a HACCP-based approach it was determined that the application of a set of Good Agricultural Practices on-farm would be effective in ensuring low risk. It was, therefore, concluded that on-farm food safety programs may not warrant full (i.e. Codex compliant) HACCP plans at the individual enterprise level provided appropriate GAP is in place. The results provide pig producers and the Australian pig industry with the elements of a HACCP-based food safety system that are scientifically justifiable, understandable and realistic to apply. These features are essential elements that underpin successful implementation and compliance by industry.     

A Bayesian network to optimise sample size for food allergen monitoring

Generally, sampling size is optimised considering a single specific constraint. However, for financial reasons, only one sample is usually defined and used to satisfy several objectives. It is therefore crucial to choose a sample that meets all the required objectives.This paper proposes an original method for optimising a sample plan to monitor allergen traces in products consumed by allergy sufferers. The proposed method, based on a Bayesian network, enables several different constraints to be considered within a single model and the integration of literature data on concentration levels of allergen traces in food. Moreover, the construction of a three-stage sampling plan took into account the consumption preferences of peanut allergy sufferers between products with or without labels on the presence of allergen traces, and between the categories and subcategories of products. This method was applied to data from the MIRABEL project which aims to assess risks related to peanut traces for French allergy sufferers.The results show how the model used all the available information and constraints to balance the total number of samples set at 900 for food categories/subcategories and labelling types. As required, the model favoured the most consumed product categories and subcategories. At the same time, it increased the number of samples when peanut concentration is low. This helps reduce the uncertainty on peanut concentrations in these products and consequently on risk estimation.In conclusion, the proposed method is a useful tool for public administrations, risk assessors and risk managers to improve sampling plans for monitoring allergen traces or other health hazards in food.     

New Zealand approaches to HACCP systems

HACCP is becoming an increasingly important component of food safety assurances for international trade and this includes the expectation that the exporting country will meet similar or equivalent HACCP requirements to those of the importing country. The influence of market access requirements and the existing legislative requirements and infrastructure of New Zealand determine the government’s role in assessing HACCP systems. Recent structural changes in New Zealand has introduced flexibility in this role. The importance of building blocks for HACCP such as prerequisite programmes, food safety objectives, generic HACCP plans, HACCP specifications, and audit competency requirements are emphasised. Government role in assessment is discussed, including the initial “recognition” of a validated HACCP plan followed by performance-based compliance audits.     

Derivation of performance objectives for Campylobacter in broiler carcasses taking into account impact of selected factors on pathogen prevalence and counts

Food safety standards in the European Union include microbiological criteria and targets in primary production. The current paper provides a strategy to elucidate risk-based metrics such a potential Food Safety Objective for Campylobacter used as benchmark to derive possible Performance Objectives for the pathogen in broiler carcasses tested after chilling. The Performance Objectives were developed using the EFSA data collected on broiler carcasses during the monitoring study performed in 2008 in the European Union according to the evaluation of the different risk factors included in the survey. The FSO for Campylobacter was set at −1.2 log₁₀ cfu/g (∼6 cfu/100 g). The Campylobacter concentrations after chilling resulting in a final concentration equal or below this proposed FSO were suggested as possible POs. The results obtained indicated that batches originating from previously thinned flocks can be more at risk of being colonized with Campylobacter. In fact, the estimated mean concentrations of Campylobacter on carcasses were 1.05 and 2.38 log₁₀ cfu/g for non thinned and thinned flocks, respectively. Further, the impact of high Campylobacter contamination on carcasses (>2.5 log₁₀ cfu/g) was shown since for those carcasses a reduction in PO values higher than 1.5 log₁₀ cfu/g is needed to meet the FSO. In contrast no significant differences for PO values estimated were found between slaughterhouses with different capacity and for carcasses tested at different times from collection. This study provides a validated methodology for the estimation of risk-based metrics based on a quantitative approach allowing food safety authorities to develop specific microbiological criteria.     

The food safety impact of the Codex sampling plans for Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods: An empirical case study applying the FAO/WHO sampling plan tool

Sampling plans are specified by the Codex Alimentarius Commission microbiological criteria for Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods. This case study evaluates the direct food safety impact of the Codex sampling plans as estimated by the FAO/WHO web-based microbiological sampling plan analysis tool under different assumptions about the pathogen distribution, test procedures, and the fraction of lots tested. The case study uses L. monocytogenes concentration data available for deli-type salads to empirically illustrate application of the sampling tool. The results indicate that the estimated impact of the sampling plans is dependent on the partitioning of total observed variance into its within- and between-lot components. The presence-absence based sampling plan is relatively insensitive to the substantial uncertainty and variability of the sensitivity of the reference method for detection of L. monocytogenes. The analytical sample size for enumeration impacts the ability of the concentration-based sampling plan to discriminate between compliant and non-compliant lots. Reducing the frequency of lot testing dramatically changes the statistical properties of the sampling schemes. Skip-lot sampling places greater importance on compliance assurance than on the direct, curative impact of lot acceptance sampling.     

Food control officers perception of the challenges in implementing new food control requirements in Finland

In addition to the food control officers’ former tasks, new EU and Finnish legislations have established new obligations for them, such as building up a quality system, amending a control plan and expanding the collection of fees to cover all the control targets. In order to study the implementation of these new tasks, an electronic survey was sent to the local food control officials in Finland. Our study shows that there will be significant differences in implementing the new food control requirements in Finland by our local units when we take into consideration the time of implementation, the approach and content of control plans, and the quality systems or fees. Especially the risk-based estimation of the control objects seems to have created a challenge in both the quality systems and in the control plans; in only 16% of the municipalities, the risk estimations had been calculated for each control object and in most cases, this estimation was made and the control frequency was decided on solely by their own inspector of the object alone. Furthermore, the amount of the planned fees per hour varied from 21 Euros to 45 Euros. Several respondents also expressed that they had no knowledge of the grounds for the charges of future inspections or the amount of fees. What is apparent is that the new approach will be implemented relatively slowly in Finland and there is a risk of the different treatment of business operators depending on their geographical location.     

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.     

Audits and inspections are never enough: A critique to enhance food safety

Internal and external food safety audits are conducted to assess the safety and quality of food including on-farm production, manufacturing practices, sanitation, and hygiene. Some auditors are direct stakeholders that are employed by food establishments to conduct internal audits, while other auditors may represent the interests of a second-party purchaser or a third-party auditing agency. Some buyers conduct their own audits or additional testing, while some buyers trust the results of third-party audits or inspections. Third-party auditors, however, use various food safety audit standards and most do not have a vested interest in the products being sold. Audits are conducted under a proprietary standard, while food safety inspections are generally conducted within a legal framework. There have been many foodborne illness outbreaks linked to food processors that have passed third-party audits and inspections, raising questions about the utility of both. Supporters argue third-party audits are a way to ensure food safety in an era of dwindling economic resources. Critics contend that while external audits and inspections can be a valuable tool to help ensure safe food, such activities represent only a snapshot in time. This paper identifies limitations of food safety inspections and audits and provides recommendations for strengthening the system, based on developing a strong food safety culture, including risk-based verification steps, throughout the food safety system.     

What risk assessments can tell us about setting criteria

The Food Safety Objective (FSO) paradigm has been developed as a risk-based approach to microbial food safety. To be operational, this paradigm requires that an Acceptable Level of Protection (ALOP) and a FSO be quantitatively defined. It then becomes the industry’s task to produce foods that achieve the FSO. A two-dimensional risk assessment, which separates variation and uncertainty, can help design a process or validate an existing process. If the initially proposed or existing process parameters do not meet the FSO, the sensitivity analysis can show which parameters have high uncertainty or variability that can be better controlled or how much a parameter must change for the process to achieve the FSO.     

Principles for the establishment of microbiological food safety objectives and related control measures

The ICMSF has recommended several steps for the management of microbiological hazards in foods in international trade, applying existing Codex documents in a logical sequence. The steps include: the conduct of a risk assessment and an assessment of risk mnanagement options, the establishment of a food safety objective (FSO), and confirmation that the FSO is achievable by application of GHP and HACCP. A FSO is a statement of the frequency or maximum concentration of a microbiological hazard in a food considered acceptable for consumer protection. FSOs can be used by risk managers to communicate to industries this acceptable level of a hazard, in order to establish effective control measures. The effectiveness of control measures is assured through adhering to performance criteria and process criteria set by the industry to meet the FSO. This system of food safety management will facilitate acceptance of seemingly different, but in reality equivalent, food production and food control practices.     

Food safety objective: An integral part of food chain management

The concept of food safety objective has been proposed to provide a target for operational food safety management, leaving flexibility in the way equivalent food safety levels are achieved by different food chains. The concept helps to better relate operational food safety management to public health goals, i.e. to an appropriate level of protection. The FSO articulates the joint target of a food chain, including all relevant links in that chain, and is common to all other food chains relevant to a pathogen/commodity combination. Performance objectives and performance criteria are two new concepts proposed recently to complement that of food safety objectives with respect to food safety control and control measures and process criteria regarding operational food safety management. All concepts together help government to give guidance to food chains about the expected safety of food products and at the same time help food chains to design their food production and food safety management systems such that there is compliance with this expectation.     

Evaluating your obligations for employee training according to the Food Safety Modernization Act

The signing of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) into law in 2011 elevated the FDA into a significantly higher, international operational role to implement a new, prevention-oriented, systems-wide approaches to food safety for the entire spectrum of non-meat foods. After decades of failed regulatory attempts to “inspect food safety into” the nation's food supply, FSMA puts the responsibility for food safety where the liability resides, with the food producers and processors. FSMA has been called the most sweeping change in food safety in the past 70 years with the potential to significantly reduce the burden of foodborne illness while saving a potential billion dollars a year in associated health care costs. When fully implemented, FSMA legislation will depend on a risk-based food safety assessment to require food producers to control their environment and train their employees to minimize risk of food borne illness to their consumers. FDA has noted that between 1999 and 2003 more than 1/3 of all food recalls were related to ineffective employee training. There will be substantial benefits for companies who begin early to write and implement employee training programs because preventing foodborne illness is most effectively address at the local, plant level. In this new regulation the establishment of training programs for personnel and documentation of training are couched in the regulatory language of “shall” rather than the former “should”, meaning they are now required and civil and criminal penalties could be assessed if companies do not comply.     

Food safety regulatory model in India

The changing food safety standards, stricter sanitary and phyto-sanitary requirements and improved global product norms trigger the necessity to improve legislative network of a country based on codex Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). Due to multiplicity of laws in a majority of developing nations processed food industry is facing a major threat for survival and growth. In India nine different ministries were involved in controlling this area. Food Safety and Standards Act was established to integrate the food safety laws in India, in-order-to systematically and scientifically re-orient food processing and manufacturing industry from regulation to self-compliance. In this study, authors' focuses on issues related to the food legislation enforced time to time based on international scenario and trade. This study brings out the fact that more holistic approach is seen in new scientific standard development and covers a wider variety of products including functional food, novel food and beverages. The basic requirements of food hygiene and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) practices as described by codex are important for any national food safety control. However, the study concludes that there exists a gap in infrastructure and risk-based approach in the both implementation and enforcement. The study also provides the SWOT analysis of Indian legislative model and recommendation for improvement.     

A generic model for evaluating consumer food safety behaviour

This paper presents a detailed approach that can be used to evaluate the food safety behaviour of consumers. The preparation of a chicken and mushroom meal is used as a model. Hazard analyses were conducted and an audit hazard check-list compiled. A standard measure of hygienic food handling behaviour, a food operation risk (FOR) score, was devised, tested and refined. Additionally, a food safety risk (FSR) score, indicating the degree of likely risk to the consumer was developed. Early results indicate that these techniques are suitable for investigating the food safety behaviour of a larger sample of consumers with a range of home-produced food products. It will be useful to those involved in hygiene auditing and intervention and could benefit small scale caterers attempting to develop HACCP plans for their operations.     

Random or systematic sampling to detect a localised microbial contamination within a batch of food

Pathogenic microorganisms are known to be distributed heterogeneously in food products that are solid, semi-solid or powdered, like for instance peanut butter, cereals, or powdered milk. This complicates effective detection of the pathogens by sampling. Two-class sampling plans, which are deployed when the health hazard is severe and direct, specify how many samples have to be drawn. In order to take a representative sample, the sampling strategy is important, especially when the microorganisms are distributed heterogeneously or localised.This theoretical study shows the impact of random versus systematic sampling on the probability to detect localised microbial contamination in a batch of food. A statistical model was used to compare these sampling strategies. The microbial contamination was modelled as being present in one specific localised fraction of the batch in which the cells were randomly distributed, while no cells were present in the remaining part of the batch.The probability that the entire sampling scheme contains at least one cell was calculated for various numbers of samples drawn either randomly or systematically and was shown to depend on the size of the contaminated fraction, the microbial concentrations, and the number of samples drawn. The probability of detection was either equal or higher for systematic sampling as compared to random sampling. The maximal improvement in probability of detection was 0.37, when the sampling interval was equal to the size of the contaminated fraction, meaning that exactly one systematic sample hits the contaminated fraction. In those cases where the size of the contaminated fraction can be estimated, this study may assist in selecting the sampling strategy that is most optimal regarding probability of detection.     

Safety assessment of smoked fish related to Listeria monocytogenes prevalence using risk management metrics

One of the fundamental objectives of European food law is the protection of human health. In this framework, the administration has to ensure that there are control measures from “farm to fork”, which maintain product safety in each stage of the food chain. With this in mind, the objective of this paper was to assess the level of safety of smoked fish in relation to Listeria monocytogenes in the early stages of the chain. This was carried out by evaluating the results obtained by the official control of the Valencian region related to the level of implementation of pre-requisites and HACCP. The prevalence of this organism in the industry and the retail stage was also measured. In order to discern whether these values were within the international consumer protection objectives a practical case focusing on smoked salmon was studied. The results showed that the management system in the industry is effective. However, there is a real increase in the prevalence in the samples taken in the supermarket. The ALOP values estimated for smoked salmon indicated that the level of safety achieved is good in a very high percentage of cases, though governments and the different agents in the food chain must continue working to improve and attain new safety goals.