Two years ago, Food Safety Tech published a series of six FSMA IQ tests to “test” industry’s knowledge about FSMA. It seemed appropriate, as at that point in time, folks still had a lot of unanswered questions. Now that we have a couple of years under our belt, how much to we know? We will publish each section of the test every week for the next six weeks. Then at this year’s Food Safety Consortium, the creators of the test–Bill Bremer, principal of food safety compliance at Kestrel Management, LLC and his team–will compare 2016 vs. 2018 during an interactive session. And if you have questions or comments on any of the elements brought up in the IQ test, please include them comments section below the test, so Bremer’s team can address them either live on our site or during the Consortium session.
Two years ago, Food Safety Tech published a series of six FSMA IQ tests to “test” industry’s knowledge about FSMA. It seemed appropriate, as at that point in time, folks still had a lot of unanswered questions. Now that we have a couple of years under our belt, how much do we know? We will publish each section of the test every week for the next six weeks. Then at this year’s Food Safety Consortium, the creators of the test–Bill Bremer, principal of food safety compliance at Kestrel Management, LLC and his team–will compare 2016 vs. 2018 during an interactive session. And if you have questions or comments on any of the elements brought up in the IQ test, please include them comments section below the test, so Bremer’s team can address them either live on our site or during the Consortium session.
Yesterday Mondelēz Global, LLC announced a voluntary recall of certain Ritz cracker sandwiches and Ritz Bits products sold in the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The products contain whey powder, which the company’s supplier recalled due to concern of the presence of Salmonella.
On Friday, the USDA’s FSIS issued a public health alert for products containing whey powder manufactured by Associated Milk Producers, Inc.. The company issued a voluntary recall. The product associated with this specific alert is frozen microwavable “Hungry Man Chipotle BBQ sauced boneless chicken WYNGZ” dinners, produced by Pinnacle Foods, Inc. The issued was uncovered by the company when Associated Milk Producers notified them that its recalled whey powder ingredient was user in the ranch dressing it supplied to Pinnacle Foods. The ingredient was used in mashed potatoes as a component of the frozen chicken dinner.
The latest report from CDC puts the laboratory-confirmed case count of cyclosporiasis in people who reportedly consumed contaminated Del Monte trays at 237. The infections are in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Seven people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.
More than one month ago, Del Monte recalled 6- ,12-, and 28-ounce vegetable trayscontaining broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and dill dip. The products were sold to Kwik Trip, Kwik Star, Demond’s, Sentry, Potash, Meehan’s, Country Market, FoodMax Supermarket and Peapod. According to an FDA update, Del Monte is also recalling 28-ounce veggie trays that were distributed to Illinois and Indiana.
FDA, CDC and other federal agencies continue to investigate the multistate outbreak. They are advising that the vegetable trays are neither sold nor consumed.
Today USDA’s FSIS issued an update about a multistate outbreak of multidrug-resistant SalmonellaReading illnesses that have been linked to raw turkey products. Thus far 90 people in 26 states have been infected with the strain. Forty people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.
A single source of the outbreak has yet to be identified. However, the CDC states that this strain of Salmonella is present in live turkeys and many types of raw turkey products, so “it might be widespread in the turkey industry”.
“33 isolates from ill people and 49 isolates from food and animal samples contained genes for resistance to all or some of the following antibiotics: ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, gentamicin, and kanamycin. Testing of four outbreak isolates using standard antibiotic susceptibility testing by CDC’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) laboratory confirmed these results. This resistance likely will not affect the choice of antibiotic used to treat most people since these antibiotics are not normally used to treat Salmonella infections.” – CDC
The illnesses began on November 20, 2017 to June 29, 2018. Officials are using PulseNet to identify illnesses that might be part of the outbreak.
The serious outbreaks over the past few months indicate that industry continues to experience “significant food safety problems”, said Stephen Ostroff, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine at the IAFP annual meeting last week. He referred to the most recent sizable produce-associated outbreaks involving romaine lettuce, pre-cut melon and veggie trays, as well as the Kellogg Company recall of Honey Smacks cereal and the Rose Acres eggs recall, both of which were due to Salmonella. “We have a lot of work to do,” said Ostroff, adding that the numerous recalls involving kratom products is concerning.
These issues highlight how the increasingly complex supply chain further complicates problems once they arise. Ostroff emphasized the necessity of end-to-end tracing, from product origination to where the consumer can access the product, and that it needs to be efficient, standardized and rapid, especially for commodities. Regarding the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak involving romaine lettuce, FDA is still trying to determine the source and mode of the contamination. And while the recent finding of the outbreak strain in the irrigation canal water is important, it still does not answer the question of how the contamination got into the canal, said Ostroff.
The latest FDA update on the outbreak investigation stated that additional samples are being analyzed on an ongoing basis and any new matches would be publicly disclosed. As of June 28, the CDC announced that the outbreak was over.
Today FDA issued an alert after becoming aware that some retailers are still selling Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal, which was recalled in June following a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Mbandaka infections linked to the product. No deaths have been reported, but 100 people in 33 states have become ill, with 30 hospitalizations, according to the CDC.
“Retailers cannot legally offer the cereal for sale and consumers should not purchase Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal,” FDA stated in its update about the agency’s outbreak investigation.
USDA FSIS has awarded a contract to 3M Food Safety for its pathogen detection instruments and kits. 3M’s molecular detection system will be the primary method used by the agency to detect Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli O157. The technology combines isothermal DNA amplification and bioluminescence detection for a fast, accurate and simple solution that also tackles some of the constraints of PCR methods. Users can concurrently run up to 96 different tests for many organisms across food and environmental samples.
Today Clear Labs announced the availability of its next-generation sequencing (NGS) platform, Clear Safety, for pathogen testing. Competing head-to-head with PCR, the product intends to bring NGS into the routine production environment. Clear Labs is launching the product at the IAFP Annual Meeting this week in Salt Lake City.
“Until the launch of Clear Safety, there was the duality between PCR and whole genome sequencing (WGS) where PCR was more applicable to routine testing and faster results,” says Mahni Ghorashi, co-founder of Clear Labs. “WGS is more expensive and slower, so the food industry has been using the technology as complementary until this time. This platform out competes PCR virtually on every level.”
Clear Safety was in the pilot phase only a couple of months ago when Ghorashi sat down with Food Safety Tech to give a brief overview of the technology. Now that the platform is officially out of pilot mode, it is accessible to all of the food industry, from third-party service labs to any food company that has an in-house lab. With less human labor involved, the platform reduces the potential for errors and does not require additional expertise. The process from sample to result has been simplified, and the bacterial enrichment and sample prep stages are identical to PCR, according to Ghorashi, who says that all a lab technician has to do is load the plates on the box and press “go”. Within 18 hours, test results are ready and can be accessed through a software platform.
Clear Safety is touted as the first NGS platform that can either match or outperform PCR systems as it relates to accuracy, turnaround time and cost. Chart courtesy of Clear Labs.
In discussing the capabilities of Clear Safety versus PCR, Ghorashi named a few other key differentiators:
Molecular profiling: The ability to drill down from species-level resolution to serotype to strain-level all in a single test within 24 hours (as opposed to today’s three-to-five-day timeframe)
Better accuracy and more automation, reducing human error
Multi-target analysis: The ability to run different kinds of pathogens at the same time
Software: LIMS built specifically for food safety testing
Clear Safety’s first area of focus is Salmonella. Ghorashi estimates that 90% of the poultry market, 80% of the pet food market and half of all contract service labs have piloted the platform. Next year E.coli and Listeria testing capabilities will be rolled out.
Darin Detwiler will lead a plenary session titled, “Practical Use of Blockchain in Food Safety” at the 2018 Food Safety Consortium | Learn moreOn the heels of the deadly, widespread outbreak of E.coli O157:H7 illnesses linked to romaine lettuce—and 12 years after the infamous spinach outbreak of 2006—the food industry is struggling to find the solution to prevent these outbreaks. “I think it’s indicative that we need to do something different,” said Melanie Nuce, senior vice president, corporate development & innovation at GS1 US, during a panel discussion about blockchain at the 2018 Food Safety Supply Chain conference earlier this month. The panel, led by Darin Detwiler, assistant dean and director, regulatory affairs of food and food industry at Northeastern University, delved into the strengths and weaknesses of blockchain, along with industry readiness and acceptance.
In its most basic form, the technology would allow for the addition of information from every step of the supply chain, from manufacturing to packaging to distribution to retail, and would incorporate elements such as auditing, inspection, batch information, certification of auditors, preventive control plans, HACCP information, and allergen identification.
“Blockchain could be the death of the document.” Simon Batters, Lloyd’s Register
Strengths
The increased demand for transparency and traceability could be one of the biggest drivers for the adoption of blockchain. “[Blockchain] offers us the technology for traceability,” said Simon Batters, vice president of technology solutions at Lloyd’s Register. “It allows us to have an immutable record of a transaction; it won’t solve the food safety conundrum overnight—it’s part of the tool kit that we need.”
The fact that the food supply chain consists of millions of transactions, which could not be tampered with under blockchain, while the data could be used as reference points and for verification—those are strengths. However, Batters pointed out, there should be restrictions on who has permission to write the code and who has access to putting the information into a chain.
The technology would also enable smart contracts whereby shipments wouldn’t be finalized if they didn’t meet the conditions of a supplier, for example. “All parties to a transaction have a view to the entire chain at the same time,” said Nuce. “You have real time visibility. This democratizes that.”
Kathleen Wybourn, director, food safety solutions at DNV GL, calls blockchain “the birth certificate for food.” From a consumer standpoint, it would provide information on a product’s origin—and these days, consumers—especially millennials—are very interested in the story of food from farm to fork.
The blockchain panel, led by Darin Detwiler, Director: Regulatory Affairs of Food and Food Industry, Northeastern University featured (left to right) Kathy Wybourn, Director, Food Safety Solutions, DNV GL; Simon Batters, Vice President of Technology Solutions, Lloyd’s Register and Melanie Nuce, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & Innovation, GS1 US.
Weaknesses and Threats
The panel pointed out several areas of improvement (and unknowns that must be answered) before blockchain can be taken to the next level in the food industry.
Although the technology could aid in faster transaction times, as the size of the ledger gets larger, and it will become more difficult to manage.
Industry involvement: “If you don’t get 100% participation, it’s not going to be successful,” Nuce said. “To have true trace back, everyone has to participate.”
Blockchain platforms: Will they be able to interact and share data? What type of blockchain architecture is necessary for this?
Poor architecture
Need a better grasp on the type of data being used and how it delivers value
What impact will it have on the role of certification bodies?
Politics and the competitive element: Will certain parties seek to control this space?
“Nobody can really tell where this is going to go in the future. I think it’s going to be part of food safety in their roles in one shape or form…I think we’ll see more of where this is headed within the next 12–18 months.” – Kathy Wybourn
“I think it’s going to be a fast-moving dynamic area.”– Simon Batters, who suggested that the organizations that embrace blockchain early may be the ones who show the way
“From an information/standards perspective, you have to have foundational business processes to support any type of technology. That’s what we’ve learned through the pilots.” – Melanie Nuce
“It’s not going to make a company any more ethical… a lot of what we need already exists out there; blockchain is just a tool out there. I keep warning people that this is not the only solution.” – Darin Detwiler
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