Tag Archives: food handling

Francine Shaw, Savvy Food Safety, Inc.

Preventing Foodborne Illness Outbreaks

By Francine L. Shaw
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Francine Shaw, Savvy Food Safety, Inc.

Recent outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ships and in foodservice settings have highlighted the need for more stringent measures to prevent and mitigate the spread of foodborne illnesses. Cruise ships are particularly vulnerable to outbreaks of norovirus due to the large number of people in close quarters and the ease at which this virus spreads.

Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) began using hypochlorous acid (HOCL) during the coronavirus pandemic. HOCL is an effective method for eradicating many viruses and pathogens, including COVID-19 and the FDA’s reportable “Big 6” highly infective pathogens: Norovirus, the Hepatitis A virus, Salmonella Typhi, Shigella spp., Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and nontyphoidal Salmonella. According to the CDC’s website, NCL has not had a norovirus outbreak since their implementation of HOCL.

The increase in reported norovirus outbreaks, as revealed by CDC’s NoroStat data, underscores the escalating threat posed by this highly contagious virus. With 519 outbreaks recorded between August 1, 2023 and January 15, 2024 — a sharp rise from the previous year’s numbers — the need for proactive measures to curb its spread is evident. Similarly, the surge in Hepatitis A cases, a vaccine-preventable illness that has led to a concerning number of hospitalizations and fatalities, necessitates a closer look at preventive strategies in foodservice settings.

Salmonella, another common culprit in foodborne illness outbreaks, has recently affected hundreds, highlighting the need for more stringent food handling protocols. To mitigate the risk of outbreaks, food businesses should implement and train employees on:

Frequent Handwashing. Emphasize the importance of thorough, proper handwashing among employees to prevent the spread of contagious illnesses such as norovirus. Proper hand hygiene, especially after using the toilet and before handling food, is crucial in maintaining a safe environment. Remember that the purpose of alcohol-based hand sanitizers is to use them as an added precaution. They do not kill non-enveloped viruses such as norovirus.

Surface Sanitization. Implement rigorous sanitation and disinfection practices to reduce the risk of pathogen contamination. Regularly sanitize surfaces, equipment, and high-touch areas to maintain a hygienic environment. Items must be clean before they can be sanitized. It isn’t possible to sanitize dirt.

In addition to HOCL, quats (quaternary ammonium compounds) are approved sanitizers. They have been the food service industry “go to” for years and they are effective. However, research has linked quat exposure to health concerns including asthma, dermatitis, inflammation, infertility and birth defects. There are also concerns that they harm aquatic life and contribute to antimicrobial resistance. Another potential, often overlooked, concern is the issue of quat binding if these chemicals are not used correctly. When used with a cotton or rayon cloth to sanitize surfaces, a bond between the material and the quaternary ammonium is formed. This reduces the concentration of the sanitizer reaching the food contact surface. To reduce this risk, quats should be used with the manufacturer-recommended cleaning cloth.

Food irradiation utilizes ionizing radiation to treat food. It helps to prolong shelf life by reducing the presence of microorganisms and insects. Comparable to the pasteurization of milk and the canning of fruits and vegetables, irradiation contributes to the overall safety of food consumption. The FDA regulates the sources of radiation employed in food irradiation.

Proper Produce Handling. Wash and sanitize fruits and vegetables to eliminate contaminants and reduce the risk of foodborne pathogens such as listeria and salmonella. HOCL can be used as a “kill step” for these foods. Any food suspected of contamination must also be discarded to prevent outbreaks.

Safe Seafood Handling. Ensure that seafood, particularly shellfish, is cooked thoroughly to eliminate noroviruses that may be present. Adhering to proper cooking practices is also essential in safeguarding against foodborne pathogens.

Employee Health Policies. Prohibit sick employees from handling food to prevent the spread of illnesses. Encourage sick employees to stay home and adhere to strict return-to-work guidelines to safeguard against potential contamination.

Proper hygiene, cleaning and sanitation are of paramount importance in food businesses. Combining these protocols with emerging technologies, such as IoT and AI to monitor food products and identify and predict risks, is vital to navigating the challenges of food safety, and ensuring safe products.

Francine Shaw
FST Soapbox

Food Safety Imagery in Social Media: Exploring the Positive and Negative Aspects

By Francine L. Shaw
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Francine Shaw

In today’s digital age, the use of imagery in social media, articles and marketing materials has become increasingly prevalent. Images can enhance (or distort) the messages conveyed through text, bringing about a range of positive and negative consequences. This article explores the multifaceted nature of imagery, focusing on its impact on accountability, brand reputation, liability, adherence to the FDA Food Code regulations, legal ramifications, and the concern of those who monitor these visuals.

Some important things to consider include:

Accountability of Site Owners. Using imagery in social media and on website is a significant responsibility for publishers and social media page managers. Visually appealing imagery can attract users and enhance engagement, leading to increased traffic and revenue. However, site owners must ensure that the images used are accurate, ethical and respectful. Failure to do so can result in misrepresentation, manipulation or dissemination of harmful content, leading to a loss of trust as well as accountability issues for the site owner or publisher.

Brand Reputation. Imagery plays a crucial role in shaping brand identity and reputation. Effective use of the proper visuals can help establish a strong brand identity and improve consumer perceptions of your products. The right imagery evokes emotions, creates connections and enhances brand recognition. However, a mismatch between the imagery and the brand’s values—or the use of misleading visuals—can damage an organization’s reputation, leading to public backlash and eroding trust.

Liability. Copyright infringement, invasion of privacy and/or the use of misleading or deceptive visual content can create liability concerns for brands and publishers. Content creators must understand and adhere to legal guidelines governing the use of images to avoid legal repercussions and potential damages. For instance, unauthorized use of copyrighted images can lead to legal claims and financial penalties. Additionally, manipulation or propagation of explicit, defamatory or offensive visuals may result in lawsuits and reputational damage. Content creators must be vigilant in obtaining proper permissions and ensuring their visuals comply with legal standards.

Compliance and Regulations. Images are widely used to market food products, services and brands, as well as to influence consumer choices. However, these images must align with the FDA Food Code and FD&C Act regulations, both of which require an accurate depiction of advertised food. Misleading visuals can result in false expectations and regulatory violations.

In addition, using imagery that visually represents U.S. regulations and industry standards for safe food handling and preparation is critical for businesses, as it assures consumers that your methods align with recognized food safety guidelines.

Who’s Watching 

In the digital age, the responsibility of policing imagery goes beyond site owners and extends to society as a whole. Users, consumers, regulatory agencies, insurance companies, attorneys, competitors and advocacy groups are pivotal in monitoring and holding accountable those who misuse or manipulate imagery. Vigilance from individuals and collective efforts to report inappropriate imagery can create an environment of shared responsibility, fostering greater accountability across social media, print publishing and the Internet.

Using images that are accurate and compliant with federal and state regulations can have multiple benefits, including:

  • Legal Compliance. Images that adhere to (or reflect) FDA Food Code requirements help businesses avoid potential legal issues and penalties that may arise from noncompliance and boost a brand’s reputation.
  • Health and Safety. The FDA Food Code is designed to ensure food safety and protect public health. Using compliant images can help promote and reinforce safe food handling, preparation and display of food, reducing the risk of foodborne illnesses.
  • Consumer Trust. Displaying food images that are compliant with U.S. regulations and industry best practices show a commitment to maintaining high standards of quality, safety and hygiene. This can help build trust with key audiences, including consumers, regulatory bodies, advocacy groups and influencers, leading to increased credibility and brand reputation.
  • Clear Communication. The FDA Food Code provides guidelines on proper labeling, disclosure of common allergens and accurate representation of food products. Compliant images enable effective and clear communication of important information to consumers, ensuring they have the necessary details to make informed choices.

Imagery in social media and printed articles holds immense potential to positively impact engagement, brand reputation and communication. However, it also brings forth challenges related to liability, accountability, adherence to legal and ethical standards, and the need for effective monitoring. Stakeholders must balance harnessing the power of visuals and ensuring their responsible use. As technology further evolves, the continuous improvement of content moderation systems and cooperation among platform owners, publishers and creators become crucial to mitigate the negative aspects associated with imagery and maximize its positive potential.

 

Pratik Soni, Omnichain
Retail Food Safety Forum

Top Three Visibility Challenges in Today’s Food Supply Chain

By Pratik Soni
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Pratik Soni, Omnichain

To say that COVID-19 has been disruptive would be putting it mildly. The pandemic’s sudden and seismic impact has brought major upheaval across industries—the food industry and its supply chain included.

There was the initial panic buying that drove upticks in consumer demand for which few manufacturers and grocers were prepared, resulting in widespread product shortages. With restaurants closed, distributors and suppliers were left with considerable excess inventory—most of which ended up as waste and losses. Inside production sites and plants, many had to try and maintain their output with a reduced workforce, even as demand continued to climb. Meanwhile, some plants unfortunately have had to shut down operations on account of employees testing positive for COVID-19.

In the time since the outbreak, the food supply chain has stabilized to an extent. Store shelves are continuously being replenished with products. Restaurants have started reopening with new health and safety measures. Yet even as the industry takes gradual steps toward recovery, the underlying problem that led to the magnitude of COVID-19’s impact persists: Lack of visibility. There was lack of visibility into supply and demand and what was happening upstream and downstream across the supply chain, which prevented timely, proactive action to optimize operations in face of disruption.

Looking ahead, participants across the food supply chain will need enhanced end-to-end visibility so that they can work together to get ahead of the curve. As part of gaining this visibility, they will need the transparent exchange of information and cohesive collaboration to adapt especially as the food industry continues to see shifts in consumer behavior and the marketplace in the wake of COVID-19—particularly in the following three key areas.

Food Distribution

While food producers have been working tirelessly to keep grocery store shelves and restaurant kitchens well stocked, there continues to be fluctuating availability on certain products, such as eggs, dairy, poultry and meat. This has led distributors and suppliers to increase their prices when selling these goods to stores and restaurants, who have had to then pass the additional costs on to consumers through their own price increases and surcharges, respectively. One report from CoBank, a cooperative bank part of the Farm Credit System, notes there could be as much as a 20% increase in the price of pork and beef this year due to supply issues.1 Many grocers have also implemented purchase limitations on consumers to combat shortages.

These downstream implications stem largely to uncertainty in the supply chain, with stores and restaurants unsure about available supply upstream and when they can expect to receive shipments. But if there was clearer visibility and transparency between production, distribution, transportation, food service and retail, then all parties could better anticipate and plan for supply shortages or delays. For instance, if a meat processing plant has to temporarily close due to cases of COVID-19, they can immediately communicate to the rest of the supply chain so that parties downstream can readily find alternative sources and minimize any necessary price inflations or other implications to consumers.

Consumer Demand

Even with the reopening of restaurants, people will likely choose to cook more of their meals at home. It was a trend that began with restaurant closures and will continue for the foreseeable future as consumers remain cautious of dining out. While this may bring tough times ahead for the food service industry, the grocery sector is seeing a huge lift in business. Research from restaurant management platform Crunchtime shows that, towards the end of June, restaurants were only seeing 64.5% of their pre-COVID-19 sales levels.2 At the same time, a study by Brick Meets Click and Mercatus reveals U.S. online grocery sales reached a record $7.2 billion in June, up nearly 10% over May.3

For food companies and brands, growth in the grocery sector has presented a challenge in the way of demand planning and forecasting. I’ve personally spoken with several company executives who have seen significant upticks in orders from their grocery channel partners—an increase for which they didn’t forecast—and are now struggling to adjust production levels accordingly to avoid the risk of excess production that would lead to unnecessary costs, wastes and losses. In such instances, real-time visibility into transactional activity and stock levels at the retail level would help production planners improve the accuracy of their forecasts and enable them to think steps ahead before orders come in and thereby optimally balance supply with demand. Stores would remain well stocked and the supply chain could flow in a more efficient and profitable way for all participants.

Food Handling

Without question, public health is the number one priority right now. Participants at each point in the food supply chain today need to communicate with each other, as well as to consumers, that they’re following best practices for social distancing, disinfecting and other precautions. It’s not to prevent the possible transfer of the virus via actual products, as the FDA notes there is currently no evidence of transmission through food or packaging. But rather, it’s to build greater confidence in the food supply chain—that everyone is doing their part to support individual and collective health and safety, which in turn prevents possible facility closures or other case-related bottlenecks that would inhibit consistent supply to the market.

There also has to be confidence that, amid these countermeasures for COVID-19, companies are still upholding their commitments to food safety, integrity and proper handling. What can support that confidence is data—shared data from every point in a product’s journey from source to shelf. The data should be transparent and available to all supply chain participants as well as immutable so that it is tamperproof and fully traceable should there be any problem, such as mislabeling or a foodborne illness. The data ultimately holds everyone accountable for their role in ensuring a safe food supply chain.

To achieve the level of visibility outlined above, the food industry will have to break away from legacy processes involving the siloed management of operational systems and databases. Instead, the disruption seen during COVID-19 and ongoing shifts in the marketplace should encourage companies to consider digital transformation and technologies that can enable a more cohesive and nimble food supply chain. These are technologies like blockchain, which provides a decentralized, distributed ledger to publish and share data in real time. Moreover, artificial intelligence that can leverage incoming real-time data to guide next-best actions, even when the unexpected occurs. Personally, I always return to the notion that the supply chain is a team sport. You need visibility to know what each team member is doing on the field and how to align everyone on a gameplay. The digital solutions available today offer that visibility and insight, as well as the agility to pivot as needed to obstacles along the journey from source to shelf.

References

  1. Taylor, K. (May 6, 2020). “The American meat shortage is pushing prices to unprecedented heights — here’s how it could affect your grocery bill.” Business Insider.
  2. Maze, J. (July 7, 2020). “As the coronavirus resurges, restaurant sales start slowing again.” Restaurant Business.
  3. Perez, S. (July 6, 2020). “US online grocery sales hit record $7.2 billion in June.” TechCrunch.
Roelof Koopmans, Semtech
Retail Food Safety Forum

How Technology Simplifies Food Safety Operations

By Roelof Koopmans
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Roelof Koopmans, Semtech

To get to the restaurant table, food must travel great lengths to preserve that farm fresh quality and in many cases, IoT-enabled sensors are being used to do this. This is especially important as the World Health Organization estimates that one in 10 people fall ill every year from eating contaminated food.

When we think of our favorite dish, we often associate it with delicious flavors, pleasant scents and even memories of a night out with friends. What we likely don’t consider is technology, something that’s critical in ensuring the meal on our plate is safe to consume. Technology plays an essential role in guaranteeing that restaurants are serving fresh food to customers. From identifying operational deficiencies to protecting the overall brand of an organization, there are certain measures restaurants are taking—whether local or country-wide chains—to ensure food quality remains a top priority.

Restaurants are perhaps held to an even higher standard than your local supermarket when it comes to the quality of food on the table. Therefore, it’s imperative that perishables are cared for properly throughout the entirety of the food supply chain and that starts well before the food ever enters the restaurant’s front door. With long-range, low-power wireless IoT technology, farmers can get insights into a number of variables that may impact the growth of their crops. Armed with that knowledge, they can make real-time decisions to optimize crop growth and ultimately produce a greater yield. For example, farmers today can set up a series of sensors throughout their farm to measure real-time soil conditions, including humidity and pH levels. If they notice an especially high pH, for example, they can immediately remedy the situation and provide the crop with the proper nutrients or conditions it needs to grow.

For food safely to arrive at restaurants, it must be kept in a controlled environment during its journey from the farm or warehouse, and carefully monitored during that time. The temperature of refrigerated shipping units or storage facilities is an incredibly important factor, as bacteria growth can increase even by simply opening the refrigerator door or with a slight temperature shift, and employees are often tasked with managing this. With large facilities comes increased labor for employees, which can lead to inefficient temperature monitoring. To eliminate food waste and contamination, IoT sensors deployed throughout facilities can eliminate human error, and deliver more consistent monitoring, via real-time updates when temperatures enter unsafe territories.

Numerous international food handling and food safety laws have been implemented to reduce the risk of foodborne illness resulting from bacterial growth. A major component of most “farm-to-fork” regulations is the ability to track, report and maintain appropriate temperature conditions inside refrigeration and freezer units throughout the entire cold chain—including when the food finally makes it the restaurant.

This is a universal priority for restaurants around the world, including Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, a southern-style food chain, which started in Nashville and now has locations nationwide. To successfully do this, the restaurant turned to technology. They used a supplier of wireless connectivity solutions with integrated long range, low power technology for temperature monitoring sensors. The sensors, which are capable of penetrating stainless steel doors and concrete walls, can monitor temperatures in refrigerators and freezers. This is essential, as the technology eliminates possible human error in manually checking temps and other food safety procedures. In instances where refrigerator temperatures shift out of range, the technology remotely notifies restaurant managers in real-time, allowing them to act quickly, ensuring their perishables remain fresh and safe for customers at all times.

Food waste in restaurants is closely tied to food safety. In the United States alone, food waste is estimated to be between 30–40% of the food supply, according to the USDA. In the restaurant industry in particular, human error is one of the most notable reasons for food waste. To eliminate the human error when handling food and monitoring storage, an IoT solution provider for the industrial, smart city and smart energy segments, integrated long-range low power technology into smart refrigeration solutions for restaurant applications. This IoT solution is designed for humidity and temperature monitoring, delivering real-time updates to managers to ensure the shelf life of food is maximized and it remains safe to consume, ultimately leading to a decrease in food waste.

From farm to table, technology plays an essential role in ensuring restaurants are delivering the highest quality of fresh, safe food. It allows organizations to identify operational deficiencies and reduce overall food safety risk, which is imperative when maintaining a strong business in a competitive industry.