The collaboration aims to help manufacturers increase product shelf life while maintaining safety and quality on a wider scale.
DuPont Nutrition & Health is joining forces with Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories, Inc. to deliver tailored food protection services with advanced analytical testing services. The agreement, which is initially being launched as a pilot program in the United States, combines DuPont’s expertise in food microbial ecology and its Detect + Protect service program with Eurofins’ capabilities in microbiological testing.
The food protection program will assist manufacturers with the microbial challenges they face in their production facilities while also addressing food spoilage and waste. Introducing antimicrobials can make food products last longer, but it’s important to ensure that the quality of those products is not affected. One of the goals of the partnership is to help food manufacturers reduce spoilage and expand the shelf life of their products without making such a compromise. “Detect + Protect targets clients that are all about comprehensive [food] safety and quality,” says Marc Scantlin, vice president, US Food Division at Eurofins. “Everything has an expiration date. How can we improve the timeline of keeping whole food safe while increasing shelf life?”
According to Nathalie Brosse, global market development, BioProtection at DuPont, the company has needed more space to build its Detect + Protect offering. DuPont will be leveraging Eurofins’ extensive lab capacity to make its program more widely available, while DuPont’s international client base opens the doors for Eurofins to expand its global reach.
From a logistics perspective, the partnership will also expedite sample turnaround, as the companies take advantage of the Eurofins microbiology lab in Louisville, KY. Located in close proximity to the UPS worldwide air hub, Eurofins can receive overnight samples between 2 am and 4:30 am, providing a faster turnaround of samples by nearly six to eight hours.
DuPont and Eurofins anticipate launching the partnership in Europe but are not disclosing dates yet.
The biggest risk faced by the food and beverage industry could be the supply chain itself.
Two proposed FSMA rules, Risk-Based Preventative Controls for Human Food and the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP), place high expectations on companies surrounding their supplier controls.
During a recent Tech Talk, “Tackling FSMA Compliance”, Melanie Neumann, executive vice president and CFO of The Acheson Group, offered advice on how companies can use technology to execute on the challenges they will face under FSMA.
Game-Changing Challenges
Globalization. “We as an industry are sourcing more ingredients than ever before—more by volume, more by way of uniqueness, and more by way of more countries,” says Neumann. “We have more companies that are playing in the global supply chain, and arguably, it’s a growing spider web versus a chain.”
Importer of Record. These days, companies have to keep track of more information than ever. “That’s where technology can come into play,” says Neumann. “We have other challenges like trying to understand who really is the importer of record, because there’s some regulatory vagueness with respect to that definition.” Variations, such as how the Bioterrism Act and the FSVP define importer of record, can also cause confusion. “We need to take a deep dive within our organizations and ask, ‘Am I the importer of record? Do I need to comply with foreign supplier verification?’”
Foreign supplier awareness. Some companies can’t name all the foreign suppliers present in their supply chain, and this is compounded by the reality that some foreign suppliers doesn’t understand FSMA. “Some foreign suppliers haven’t heard of FSMA, and we have a very short period of time to compliance to get them ready if you still want to source from them,” says Neumann. “Technology can help us track back and keep record of the supply chain.”
Stay on top of risk instead of letting risk catch up with you
Keeping track of mountains of information while controlling risks within a paper-based environment is quickly becoming obsolete and potentially dangerous. Having the electronic documentation will help prove compliance with requirements. “Gone are the days where we can manage all these requirements in a filing cabinet. The technological solutions out there can help you put everything in an electronic format that is searchable and at your fingertips in minutes. By regulation, you’ll need the information within hours,” says Neumann. “These systems are building in mechanisms to auto-alert you, so if something looks like it is becoming out of spec or compliance, it will raise an electronic hand. It also helps you keep and meet the record keeping compliance requirement from both a foreign and domestic supplier management perspective.” Listen to the entire SafetyChain FSQA Tech Talk
Blue Bell pulls all of its frozen treats from the shelves of grocery stores and retail outlets nationwide.
Today Blue Bell Creameries recalled all of its products—ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and frozen snacks—made at all Blue Bell facilities because they might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. FDA has open investigations at the company’s facilities.
Consumers should not eat any of the recalled the products. If these ice cream products are in your freezer, they should be thrown away or returned, even if some of them have been eaten without anyone becoming ill.
Providing customers with updated certificates and audit documents, and migrating to digital platforms are steps suppliers can take to conquer document management.
In its annual Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) Professional Survey, TraceGains polled professionals in food manufacturing, processing and distribution on the challenges they face at various levels of the supply chain. Rajan Gupta, vice president of Customer Success at TraceGains discusses the importance they place on supplier document management.
Food Safety Tech: Companies understand the importance of document management. How do they struggle when collecting and managing supplier documentation?
Rajan Gupta: The greatest challenge to document management is that there is a complicated web of requirements that companies need to maintain for compliance, safety and business growth. For example, companies are required to maintain documentation proving compliance with rules and regulations such as the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), labeling, allergen control programs, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), as well as FDA and third-party audits, just to name a few. With each entity, rule or regulation, companies are faced with a different set of required documentation that they must maintain and furnish upon request. Obviously, this poses a challenge for companies to not only remain abreast of new rules and regulations, but also know exactly where they stand.
FST: How often do manufacturers need to monitor supplier documents to ensure they are up to date?
Gupta: Despite the common misconception that safety and compliance documents should be updated every year, this is not always the case. Certain documents, such as Kosher certificates and third-party audits, should be updated annually; however, other documents only need to be updated when something changes. To complicate matters, the industry is so far behind that catching up is becoming difficult. Often, suppliers do not proactively send updated documents to their customers, thus forcing them to require new documents each year and further complicating the company’s ability to confidently know where they stand with compliance and safety rules and regulations.
Credit: 2015 Annual TraceGains FSQA Professional Survey
FST: What’s the biggest tip you can offer manufacturers when it comes to ensuring documentation is in place, especially when considering the requirements of an audit?
Gupta: The key to documentation success is actively working with suppliers to minimize the “noise” of unorganized information sharing. Companies should make it a priority to take steps towards digital information sharing, thereby enabling efficiency in an otherwise very inefficient environment. Such small steps require vision, leadership, and an inclination towards entrepreneurship.
Whole Foods Market voluntarily recalls packaged raw macadamia nuts due to possible Salmonella contamination. Recalled items were sold in AR, AZ, CA, CO, HI, KS, LA, NM, NV, OK, TX, and UT Whole Foods Market Stores. No illnesses have been reported to-date. Based upon routine testing conducted by an FDA-contracted laboratory, it was determined that the raw macadamia nuts tested positive for Salmonella.
Beech-Nut Nutrition recalls approximately 1,920 pounds of baby food products that may be contaminated with small pieces of glass… The baby food product was produced on December 12, 2014: 4-oz. glass jars containing “Stage 2 Beech-Nut CLASSICS sweet potato & chicken. The problem was discovered after the firm received a complaint from a consumer who found a small piece of glass in the product. The company has received a report of an oral injury associated with consumption of these products. FSIS has received no additional reports of injury or illness from consumption of these products.
Beech-Nut responds: “At Beech-Nut, we strive to make baby food with the best ingredients nature has to offer – freshly prepared and packaged in clean, safe and environmentally-friendly packaging. So, when any product of ours falls short of those standards, we take swift action to correct it.”
The cured and uncured pork items were produced on various dates between August 7, 2014 and April 1, 2015… The problem was discovered when an FSIS inspector was conducting a Food Safety Assessment and observed a processing deviation.
Experts cited management buy-in, employee satisfaction, and information sharing as the critical factors for success.
Food safety culture is not a program that is implemented at a company. It’s a living organism that’s either strengthened or weakened by the actions taken by an organization. “There’s no on/off switch,” said Lone Jespersen, director, Food Safety and Operations Learning at Maple Leaf Foods, at the GMA Science Forum held this week in National Harbor, MD.
Product safety and quality is a shared responsibility. However, fostering a positive environment in which employees embrace accountability starts at the top. “You need to have management commitment; then employee buy-in follows,” said Joseph Levitt, partner at Hogan Lovells US, LLP. “It’s a message people want to embrace.”
At Land O’Lakes, the company took a four-pronged approach to its food safety culture, focusing on a clear quality message and mindset, employee education and training, active leadership alignment and participation, and establishing effective metrics and objectives. Most significant to the company’s success was its ability to involve senior management and get their commitment to taking a product safety 101 course. Sara Mortimore, vice president, Product Safety, QA & Regulatory Affairs at Land O’ Lakes, advised the audience to take a one-on-one tactic when talking to senior management versus putting everyone together in the boardroom. Having that individual interaction with management members forces each person to commit to sharing perspectives.
Companies must focus on monitoring employee behavior and ensuring that employees feel motivated to have a positive impact on product safety and quality. It involves having a continuous improvement mindset versus complacency. Jespersen cited the antecedent-behavior-consequences model as a means to establish goals and metrics, define critical behaviors, and determine positive or negative consequences. Most important to the process is that a company keeps it foot on the pedal when improvements are being made, as a lack of consistency is what causes lapses in progress forward. She also pointed to the Food Maturity Model, a method she developed with industry stakeholders, as a guide for companies to measure employee behavior as it relates to food safety culture across an organization.
In the age of increasingly fewer resources and less time, companies are challenged to effectively train staff and meet ever-changing regulatory requirements, while successfully managing their suppliers and customer expectations.
In its annual Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) Professional Survey, TraceGains polled professionals in food manufacturing, processing and distribution on their top priorities, challenges and predictions for 2015. “Quality isn’t suffering, but not having enough resources—which typically means money, leads to non-optimal staffing—does have a negative effect on the workforce,” says Gary Nowacki, CEO of TraceGains. Nowacki tells Food Safety Tech how companies are managing these challenges.
Food Safety Tech: How are companies managing the lack of resources? Is it negatively affecting how they operate from a safety and quality perspective?
Gary Nowacki: People have to work more hours or do more jobs. They often cannot advance in their careers because there is no skill redundancy, and [they] cannot do much of the proactive work they’d rather be performing to help their company excel. This is especially true as the number of audits has increased rather than decreased as has been promised, which command a strong resource commitment from a limited pool.
FST: How are firms preparing for the changing regulatory and compliance requirements, especially regarding final FSMA rules?
Nowacki: We’ve seen two approaches prevail: Being extremely proactive now or purposely waiting until the last minute to push off any potential expenses associated with compliance. The lengthy rollout of the Food Safety Modernization Act hasn’t helped spurn companies into action. Considering that food processing and manufacturing is a very low-margin business, it is understandable that many companies wish to have full clarity before committing the required resources. We haven’t found anyone who does not wish to be complying with FSMA—there is great respect for the purpose of the law, and all companies that we have encountered practice food safety first.
Credit: 2015 Annual TraceGains FSQA Professional Survey
FST: How is information overload affecting how companies operate? What advice can you offer firms?
Nowacki: Information overload goes hand-in-hand with limited resources. Ever-increasing upstream requirements, be they regulatory or industry driven, command ever-increasing downstream requirements. This, coupled with the fact that most organizations still operate in siloed departments, puts increasing strain on data collection, analysis, and retention requirements. Automation, specifically software-based automation, can help companies accomplish more, but we don’t advocate “with less”.
Further, automation can help break down those department and information silos, as decisions can then be easily made from shared data. One of the things we often sense first is that automation is expected to replace people—that has been very true globally in manufacturing—so there is a great deal of fear or uncertainty involved. Our experience has been that automation helps the limited human resources be more productive and, more importantly, more proactive. Automation helps move people from clerical, error-prone tasks to higher-level and more strategically important tasks, as the overwhelming amounts of data are being handled digitally.
When President Barack Obama in 2011 signed the Food Safety Modernization Act, the most sweeping reform of American food safety laws in more than 70 years, the Food and Drug Administration’s job got a lot tougher.
As the FDA’s Palmer Orlandi explained at Pittcon [on March 9], they might need your help to get that job done. Orlandi, who spoke as part of the two-day Food Safety Tech Food Labs Conference at Pittcon, is the agency’s acting chief science officer in the office of food and veterinary medicine. The FDA traditionally has been very good at reacting to safety issues in our food supply as they arise and finding the source of the problem, Orlandi said. But, now the agency is charged with more of a preventive role, which means identifying the biggest risks before they become a threat to the public. That’s a big job, and the FDA can’t do it alone. “We’re looking for burden-sharing,” Orlandi said.
Partnerships with other federal agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Homeland Security are part of the solution. They’re also working with state-level laboratories and even the private sector, he said. As an example, he cites the Food Emergency Response Network, which includes food-testing laboratories at the local, state, and federal levels. Initially formed to deal with bioterrorism threats, Orlandi said it has become a useful food safety network as well. FERN-affiliated labs recently tested 1,600 samples of avocados for salmonella and listeria, he said.
Much of the burden of this new preventive approach will fall on food producers. Orlandi said FDA is willing to work with private labs to develop standards. This can be tricky, however, because the agency doesn’t want to create the impression that it is somehow favoring one private sector entity over another. Meanwhile, private companies have their own trade secrets to protect. “Where is the middle ground where we can cooperate?” Orlandi asked rhetorically.
FDA has developed validation standards that field labs can use, he said. But, he concedes, the agency hasn’t done a good job compiling and publishing those standards into an accessible document or reaching out to stakeholders to make sure they’re up to speed. “That’s another thing on our to-do list,” he said.
Funding for these efforts is scarce. Joe Konschnik, a market research manager for Restek Chromatography Products who attended Orlandi’s presentation, helps to supply scientists working in College Park, MD to develop new procedures to analyze pesticides. Traditionally, once the research is published, the researchers’ jobs are over. Konschnik says now they’re trying to send the information out to other labs in the U.S. and overseas. That way, everyone can work from the same page to validate the work and create consistent standards.
One of the problems is that, for example, aerating seeds to run multilevel validation studies can cost $35,000, he said. But the FDA only has about $75,000 to fund such studies, which obviously would run out very quickly. “There’s no money to fund the back-end stuff,” Konschnik said. He said he works with the American Council of Independent Laboratories, which is willing to do the testing for free. But it still costs money for the FDA to make samples, send them to the labs, gather the data, and validate the data.
In short, the partnerships FDA is building remain a work in progress. But it has a new tool: the America Competes Act, which gives federal agencies the authority to award prizes for solving significant problems. The FDA has issued a “food safety challenge,” Orlandi said, looking for ways to reduce turnaround times on food safety tests, checking for salmonella, for example, from a few weeks to a day or two. The agency has a $500,000 prize pool, with $400,000 potentially going to the winner. This article originally appeared in CEN media group’s Pittcon Today on Tuesday, March 10 and has been republished with permission.
Innovative Publishing names new face for Medical Device Summit and Food Safety Tech.
Washington Crossing, PA – April 2, 2015 – Innovative Publishing Company has named Maria Fontanazza the editor-in-chief for its B2B online publications Medical Device Summit and Food Safety Tech.
Fontanazza has more than a decade of experience in journalism, marketing and communications within the medical device industry. While at UBM Canon for more than eight years, she served in various editorial roles, including as the managing editor for Medical Device + Diagnostic Industry (MD+DI). She has authored hundreds of articles that have appeared in domestic and international industry publications and has moderated educational sessions and panel discussions at various industry events.
“Maria will be a strong addition to our team and will be responsible for growing our delivery of original in-depth reporting on important industry issues and expanding our reach on social media,” says Rick Biros, president and publisher of Innovative Publishing.
Fontanazza brings direct medical device industry knowledge from her role at Secant Medical, Inc., where she was the Marketing Communications Manager and Market Research Manager, and will bring her experience in a highly regulated industry to covering critical food-safety issues.
“I am excited and honored to be joining the Innovative Publishing team, which is made up of seasoned professionals who share an entrepreneurial spirit that drives us to do things differently so we have greater impact on the industries we cover,” says Fontanazza. “I look forward to increasing industry awareness of important issues and provoking discussions that promote more collaboration between industry and regulators.”
Innovative Publishing Company LLC (IPC) delivers industry-specific opportunities for business growth and professional development through an integrated B2B platform that includes online publishing, conferences, webinars and hybrid events. IPC launched Medical Device Summit @MedDeviceSummit in 2010 and Food Safety Tech @FoodSafetyTech in 2012. Our focus is to provide game-changing knowledge and expert opinions about breaking news, innovative technology, emerging trends and ever-changing international regulations. Our mission is to aid in the advancement and progress of global industries that contribute to a healthier world.
FDA estimates that 142,000 illnesses each year are caused by consuming eggs contaminated with Salmonella. While there are regulations in place to help prevent contamination of eggs on the farm and during shipping and storage, the most effective way to prevent egg-related illness is by knowing how to buy, store, handle and cook eggs safely.
Fresh eggs must be handled carefully to avoid the possibility of foodborne illness, often called “food poisoning.” Even eggs with clean, uncracked shells may occasionally contain bacteria called Salmonella that can cause an intestinal infection.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that 142,000 illnesses each year are caused by consuming eggs contaminated with Salmonella. FDA has put regulations in place to help prevent contamination of eggs on the farm and during shipping and storage. But consumers play a key role in preventing illness associated with eggs. In fact, the most effective way to prevent egg-related illness is by knowing how to buy, store, handle and cook eggs — or foods that contain them — safely. Follow these safe handling tips to help protect yourself and your family.
What is Salmonella?
Salmonella, the name of a group of bacteria, is the most common cause of food poisoning in the United States. Salmonella germs have been known to cause illness for over 100 years. They were discovered by an American scientist named Salmon, for whom they are named.
Most people infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, and vomiting 12 to 72 hours after infection. Symptoms usually last 4 to 7 days and most people get better without treatment. However, in some people, the diarrhea may be so severe that they need to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated quickly with antibiotics. Certain people are at greater risk for severe illness and include pregnant women, young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.
Safe Handling Instructions
To prevent illness from bacteria: keep eggs refrigerated, cook eggs until yolks are firm, and cook foods containing eggs thoroughly. Eggs that have been treated to destroy Salmonella — by in-shell pasteurization, for example — are not required to carry safe handling instructions.
Buy Right
You can help keep eggs safe by making wise buying decisions at the grocery store. Buy eggs only if sold from a refrigerator or refrigerated case. Open the carton and make sure that the eggs are clean and the shells are not cracked. Refrigerate promptly. Store eggs in their original carton and use them within 3 weeks for best quality.
Keep Everything Clean
Cleaning counter before preparing any food, remember that cleanliness is key! Wash hands, utensils, equipment, and work surfaces with hot, soapy water before and after they come in contact with eggs and egg-containing foods.
Cook Thoroughly
Thorough cooking is perhaps the most important step in making sure eggs are safe. Cook eggs until both the yolk and the white are firm. Scrambled eggs should not be runny. Casseroles and other dishes containing eggs should be cooked to 160°F (72°C). Use a food thermometer to be sure. For recipes that call for eggs that are raw or undercooked when the dish is served — Caesar salad dressing and homemade ice cream are two examples — use either shell eggs that have been treated to destroy Salmonella, by pasteurization or another approved method, or pasteurized egg products. Treated shell eggs are available from a growing number of retailers and are clearly labeled, while pasteurized egg products are widely available.
Serve Safely
Bacteria can multiply in temperatures from 40°F (5°C) to 140°F (60°C), so it’s very important to serve foods safely. Serve cooked eggs and egg-containing foods immediately after cooking. For buffet-style serving, hot egg dishes should be kept hot, and cold egg dishes kept cold. Eggs and egg dishes, such as quiches or soufflés, may be refrigerated for serving later but should be thoroughly reheated to 165°F (74°C) before serving. Cooked eggs, including hard-boiled eggs, and egg-containing foods, should not sit out for more than 2 hours. Within 2 hours either reheat or refrigerate.
Store Properly
Use hard-cooked eggs (in the shell or peeled) within 1 week after cooking. Use frozen eggs within 1 year. Eggs should not be frozen in their shells. To freeze whole eggs, beat yolks and whites together. Egg whites can also be frozen by themselves. Refrigerate leftover cooked egg dishes and use within 3 to 4 days. When refrigerating a large amount of a hot eggcontaining leftover, divide it into several shallow containers so it will cool quickly.
On The Road
Cooked eggs for a picnic should be packed in an insulated cooler with enough ice or frozen gel packs to keep them cold. Don’t put the cooler in the trunk — carry it in the air-conditioned passenger compartment of the car. If taking cooked eggs to work or school, pack them with a small frozen gel pack or a frozen juice box.
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