Tag Archives: sanitation

Roslyn Stone

The Changing Landscape of a Foodborne Illness Outbreak Response

By Roslyn Stone, MPH
No Comments
Roslyn Stone

Recent high-profile foodborne illness outbreaks appear to have an enduring impact for the entire industry – from when and how health departments respond to alleged illness to how a single tweet wreaks havoc. The bar for when a comprehensive response is required is lower and the extent and nature of the required response has changed.

Here’s what we’ve learned:

Health departments are receiving more complaints from consumers. Although much of this is believed to be related to the high-profile outbreaks, some are a result of health department websites making it easier to report illness. A few years ago, guest illness reporting required calling the health department during business hours, working your way through complex voicemail options until you reached a recorded line to leave a message about your illness. Today, most health departments in large cities and many in smaller counties, have simple on line reporting systems available 24/7. So when someone isn’t feeling well at midnight, and is sure it’s from the last thing they ate, they go online and report the illness.

Health departments are now more often following up on single reports of illness and reports of illness that are inconsistent with most foodborne illness incubation periods. This is creating a large burden for already short-staffed departments, but in response to what the public now expects. In the past, they might have replied to the ill guest and explained that they’d received no other reports, that most foodborne illness has a longer incubation period and refer the illness to personal physicians if a follow up is clinically appropriate. But today, we’re finding many health departments dispatching inspectors for even a single complaint that doesn’t appear consistent with incubation periods for that meal.

There’s increasing pressure on health departments to go public with illness events – even if the illness is no longer ongoing or creating a public health risk. The foodborne illness legal community has made it clear that they believe the public has the right to know about any and every foodborne illness. And some health departments are responding to that pressure – without their being an on-going public health risk; which would have been the trigger in the past.

Guest complaints about illness are occurring more frequently. Every single one of our clients is reporting an on-going uptick in guest reports of illness. We’re not clear if it’s that consumers are more aware of illness, more concerned or more likely to associate it with a restaurant or food service provider. But the entire industry is seeing an increase in guest reports of illness. And every guest assumes it was the last meal they ate.

How you handle any guest complaint about illness is even more critical than it was a few months ago. Here’s why: if you don’t’ respond to the guest quickly and listen with authentic empathy, that guest is far more likely than ever before to tweet about you, write a bad review, post on social media or contact the media. You need to act quickly and it doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend or holiday. Waiting until Monday morning is not an option.

Noro season is year-round now… it’s no longer the winter vomiting disease like it is called in some places. Noro virus outbreaks continued in California (and elsewhere) until after the school year ended. We need to be alert to Noro all of the time.

Fourth of July
Fourth of July was an unusually quiet day in the restaurant, quieter than anticipated (meaning more prep done than needed). The next day, two employees called out sick. A day later, two guests (small parties) called the restaurant reporting illness and later that day, two more larger parties emailed their reports of illness through the corporate website. It took another 24 hours to match these multiple illness reports through three different channels. It didn’t trigger a full-blown response and implementation of the noro sanitizing protocol.
THE FINAL TALLY: 40+ guests reporting sickness and nearly half of the staff.
THE LESSON: Coordination of reporting mechanisms so that you see a potential problem and respond at the earliest point when you can have the greatest impact in minimizing risk.

Employees continue to work sick. There are so many reasons that employees work sick and it has little or nothing to do with paid sick time. They work sick because they’re not very sick, they don’t understand that any gastrointestinal upset may be a sign of foodborne illness, they don’t want to disappoint their manager or they don’t want to let their team down. They’re working sick for altruistic reasons without understanding the potential ramifications. We have a long way to go in educating managers and employees about what “sick” looks like, what can happen from working sick and why we need to work together long term to change this set of behaviors.

Employee Exclusion Policies need to be revisited. Someone is shedding the Noro virus for twenty-four hours prior to become symptomatic and then at very high levels for three days after symptoms end. Sick employees need to be excluded for much longer than they currently are in most restaurants and food service establishments to control Noro outbreaks.

Employee Illness on Days Off are as critical to crisis prevention and response as illness on work days. You need to know if an employee was sick on a scheduled work day or on a day off. As we discussed previously, they were shedding the Noro virus before they got sick and for days after. Your illness response plan needs to include a very robust tool for employee illness reporting – one that is as easy to use seven days a week and raises an alert to management when there are two or more sick employees.

It’s time to redraft and recommunicate the definition of a potential crisis in your organization. In the past, we previously used the following definitions of what defined a potential crisis for a restaurant or foodservice group:

  • Two or more employee illness reports (for same time period and symptoms)
  • Two or more guest complaints (from different parties for same time period)
  • One confirmed employee illness (with a communicable disease)

Your new definition must be broader and reflect the lower trigger points for action. It may include one guest complaint from a large party, illness in a neighboring school, social media buzz about illness from your location and / or a health inspection in response to a guest complaint of alleged illness.

The takeaway: the lessons learned continue to evolve and new ones emerge with each new outbreak. Making sure we identify and share these lessons across the industry and your organization is critical for being prepared to first identify and then quickly respond to the next threat that comes your way.

Chelle Hartzer, Orkin
Bug Bytes

How to Prepare for an Audit at Any Time

By Chelle Hartzer
1 Comment
Chelle Hartzer, Orkin

Everybody knows to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. But being prepared for an unannounced audit isn’t something that can be done overnight, especially when it comes to pest management.

That’s why it’s important to carefully review your food safety plan and the specific pest management measures contained within it. Pest management can account for up to 20% of an audit, so it can make or break a facility’s score. There’s no room to gamble—between federal regulations, audit regulations, internal standards and customer expectations, you need to stay in compliance.

With FSMA in full effect, it’s important to become familiar with the regulations found on the FDA’s website if you haven’t yet. Reacting to problems isn’t good enough anymore, as many of these regulations emphasize a preventive strategy. The FDA has the authority to mandate recalls, shut down facilities and more. If you need help determining the rest of your facility’s food safety program, the FDA has a helpful downloadable food safety plan builder.

To make sure pest issues don’t spoil your score during an unannounced audit, remember that pest management is an ongoing partnership that requires your entire staff’s participation. It’s something you should plan for as part of regular maintenance and sanitation schedules.

The first step is to establish an integrated pest management (IPM) program. This plan should be developed with your pest management provider and should be a comprehensive look at all factors that may contribute to pest issues. It should be designed to reduce pest pressure around a facility, address all sanitation and exclusion issues, actively monitor for pests and set action levels.

The goal is to proactively deal with pests and prevent as many issues as possible. An IPM program is tailored to meet a facility’s specific needs based on a wide range of different factors. An IPM program uses pesticide treatments as a final step once all conducive conditions have been identified and addressed. The program should adapt as both the facility and the pest pressures change over time.

Implement regular training for all employees and encourage participation. Something as simple as a poster featuring the “most wanted pests” in break rooms or locker rooms can help train personnel to recognize the signs of potential pests around the facility. Make it clear that each employee is a key player in your program and empower them to speak up should they see something. Ensure you have a pest-sighting log and all personnel are aware of where it is and how to report issues. Their help will be vital to point out issues, ensure sanitation is adequate and identify problem areas on a daily basis. Your pest control professional can host a training meeting for you and your staff if needed.

When implementing an IPM program at your facility, there are numerous preventive tactics you can implement and perform on a regular basis.

  • Monitoring devices: Using devices like fly lights, rodent traps and bait stations can help reduce pest populations and keep them away from food products. These monitoring devices also offer insight as to how many and what kinds of pests are plaguing the facility, which is valuable information when determining a strategy to resolve existing pest problems and minimize pest pressure.
  • Sanitation: Any food source, including the foods you are producing and storing, can draw pests. Clean up product spills quickly. Don’t forget about food in employee areas such as break rooms and locker rooms. While it is impossible to clean up every food particle (you are producing food at your site!), you can work to limit the access pests have to food sources.
  • Take out the trash: Emptying trash daily and cleaning out the trash bins helps prevent the buildup of organic material, which can attract many different pests. Make sure dumpsters are placed away from the building if possible and always keep them closed. Don’t a smelly garbage or a full bin—when in doubt, take it out!
  • Seal cracks and crevices: Keep a constant watch around the facility for any openings big enough for a pest to fit through. Remind employees that rats only need a quarter-size hole to squeeze into a facility, while mice only need an opening the size of a dime. And that’s not the worst of it; cockroaches only need one sixteenth of an inch, making it vital to seal off any openings found. Don’t forget to look at your facility from the outside as well!
  • Install automatic doors: Often, open doorways are prime locations for pests to enter. All doors should remain closed when not in use. Especially in docking areas when loading/unloading, try to open dock doors only when needed and keep the gap from the truck to doorway sealed off if possible. Installing automatic doors can reduce the likelihood flying pests inside the facility by ensuring doors stay closed when not in use.
  • Inspect shipments: Anytime a new shipment arrives, it should be inspected closely for pests. Stored product pests could be in products and spread to others in close proximity quickly, so catching them early is key. Don’t forget to inspect shipping containers for outgoing product too, because if your product goes in an infested truck, your product will be considered infested!
  • Remove clutter: Many pests love to hide under clutter. Remove unused equipment, product and packaging—especially cardboard boxes—to avoid giving pests a convenient hiding place. Don’t forget about clutter outdoors, too.
  • Outdoor concerns: Sanitation is important outside the facility as well. Make sure to remove clutter and garbage on the ground and near the facility to help reduce pest pressure. Many pest issues start outside, so removing clutter outdoors means fewer pests to potentially get into your site. In addition, installing sodium vapor lights instead of mercury vapor lights near the building will attract fewer insects.
  • Install air curtains: The perfect complement to automatic doors, air curtains create positive airflow—or air flowing outwards from building entrances—to push pests away from the building.

Auditors are looking for a number of things when it comes to pest management. One important item they want to see is the record of past pest issues and the steps taken to resolve them. You and your pest management provider should ensure all records are up to date and accurate with pest trends that can be explained.

Documentation is perhaps the most critical part of a strong IPM program. It ensures your efforts are captured, organized and available should an unexpected auditor arrive on site.

The following are six main documents to have ready at all times.

  1. Food Safety Plan
    Perhaps the most important piece of documentation, the overarching food safety plan is absolutely necessary to have on hand. The plan should be a comprehensive document describing all activities to ensure the safety of food during manufacturing, processing, packing and holding. It should include a list of potential hazards, preventive controls and corrective actions to mitigate those risks, along with monitoring and verification procedures.
  2. List of Service Changes
    An IPM program needs to be dynamic. But when modifications are made to meet the ever-changing needs of a facility, make sure to keep careful records of how and why the plans have changed.
  3. List of Monitoring Devices/Traps
    Your plan must include a map documenting all monitoring equipment, traps and any other devices used around the facility to reduce pest pressure. Note the locations and activity levels of each. The trend report from the collected data can show important information and help make management decisions. Your pest management professionals can help with this, as they should be noting activity each time they inspect your property. Auditors will want to see the historical data of pest monitoring devices and the corrective actions associated with any issues. Monitoring devices work as a great early warning system for developing pest issues and are a great proactive approach.
  4. Annual Assessments
    Each year, you should review your food safety plan and current IPM program. These annual assessments will note problem areas and set goals for the coming year. Auditors will be looking for these yearly assessments, and if you’re able to demonstrate year-over-year improvement then you’ll give your facility a better chance at a great audit score.
  5. Sighting Reports
    If a pest is spotted within the facility, employees should document it on the pest-sighting log. The report should include information about the location of the pest within the facility, who found it and the number of pests spotted. Capturing the pest is ideal, but it’s not always feasible to do so. In that case, photo evidence helps with identification, so obtain a close-up picture of the pest(s) if possible. Ensure the pest is identified and any corrective actions documented.
  6. Proof of Training/Certification
    You know that your pest management professional is trained and certified, but an auditor doesn’t. To demonstrate your provider’s expertise, keep a valid license or certification document, written evidence of the pest management professional’s training, and documentation of internal training on IPM and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).

According to FSMA guidelines, a strong food safety plan identifies potential hazards to food products, and focuses on a preventive, risk-based strategy instead of a reactionary one. With an IPM program in place and detailed documentation of actions taken, you’ll be prepared anytime an auditor decides to “pop in” for a “quick chat.”

Tim Husen, Rollins Technical Services
Bug Bytes

Sanitation Solutions for Pest Problems

By Tim Husen, Ph.D.
1 Comment
Tim Husen, Rollins Technical Services

It’s no surprise that food manufacturing and processing environments are naturally vulnerable to food safety threats. Food processing environments have all the things a pest needs to thrive: Food, water and shelter. And if poor sanitation is added to the mix, pests can find your food processing plant absolutely irresistible.

An unkempt facility can attract flies, ants, cockroaches and other unwanted common pests such as rodents. All of these common pests could put you or your facility at risk during your next audit.

The good news is pest-related sanitation issues are preventable through proactive and holistic preventive treatment plans. It’s important to establish proper sanitation processes and procedures so that over time, you avoid or reduce the occurrence of pest problems that could cost you major points on an audit and potentially compromise your products.

Many food processing facilities employ integrated pest management (IPM), an approach that helps prevent pest activity before it occurs and uses chemical treatments only as a last resort. The goal with these types of treatments is to give facility managers tools to use in advance of their next audit to stay ahead of pests, to teach employees good practices and to avoid problems before they happen. A good IPM program includes careful documentation of pest issues and the conducive conditions relating to them, as well as any corrective actions taken to resolve them. This documentation is incredibly important not just in solving pest problems, but also in its relevance to FSMA regulations.

When talking to pest management providers, remember that a “one-size fits all” strategy often doesn’t work, so expect your pest control company to recommend a customized plan. Different environments have different “hot spots” (areas where pests typically are present if the conditions are right) and face different pest pressures. However, there are a few key best practices that can be applied to any facility to help protect against pests.

The following guidelines will help to minimize pest activity and prepare for your facility’s next audit.

1. Educate and Enlist Your Employees in the Fight Against Pests

The first step to establishing your sanitation plan is enlisting your staff. One of the strongest building blocks in your defense against pest activity is sanitation. This key component of your IPM plan begins with the vigilance of your employees. Sanitation and pest management aren’t one-and-done tasks. They’re ongoing and you’ll get the best results when the entire staff is on board.

How can they help? Your employees are often the first to notice any potential signs of existing problems, so it’s important to educate them on hot spots where pests could live, what signs they should look for, and what to do if they see a pest issue. Once your employees understand the importance of sanitation, set a zero-tolerance policy for spills, debris and waste. If employees spot a pest, make sure they understand the protocols for documenting its presence. Consider implementing daily, weekly and monthly sanitation routines in addition to an annual deep cleaning.

Finally, enlist your employees to help keep common areas clean, from break rooms to locker rooms. Establish processes to clean up dirty dishes and drink spills, and empty full trash bins immediately. Don’t forget about cleaning the bins themselves! Also, make sure that common refrigerators aren’t filled with past-expiration lunches or snacks. If you’re finding it tough to get employees to participate, most pest management providers will offer a free education program to make employees aware of potential risks and what they can do to help. Sometimes it can help employees to hear from the experts.

2. What’s on the Inside Counts

As the saying goes, what’s on the inside really matters. This is true for the interior sanitation of your processing facility, too. There are a few particularly vulnerable hotspots to be conscious of when putting together your sanitation plan, especially the production floor, the storage areas and the receiving areas.

For obvious reasons, the production floor is one of the most important areas of focus for your sanitation program. Any hygiene issue could directly impact and expose your food products to contamination. Pests love to make their homes in big equipment that is often difficult to access for cleaning. Improper sanitation may lead to bacteria growth on the production line, which poses a major food safety threat. Create a schedule so that all equipment and machinery are sanitized regularly, and don’t forget about paying extra attention to those out-of-sight areas.

Drain flies and other pests live around drains and drain lids. Both should be scrubbed and sanitized regularly to prevent buildup of grease and other gunk that can attract pests. Organic, professional cleaning solutions are a great option to break down tough stains and grime on floors and around drains. These organic cleaners use naturally occurring enzymes and beneficial bacteria to degrade stains, grime and other organic matter build up, which helps reduce the likelihood of drain flies and other pests.

Storage areas are also prone to attracting pests and the potential bacteria they harbor. These cluttered spaces can get filled with extra boxes and other debris, and are perfect locations for pests to hide. Keep these areas clean and clear of clutter so pests have fewer areas to seek shelter and reproduce.

Cockroaches especially love cardboard boxes, so take those to recycling facilities regularly. Remove any equipment that is not being used. If you have re-sealable containers, clean out all the containers before placing new products inside. All containers should be tightly sealed and kept six inches off the floor and 18 inches away from walls. You can also affix mops and other types of cleaning equipment to the wall. Keeping them off the ground will keep them dry and prevent them from sitting in standing water, which is a major hot spot for fly breeding and bacteria build up.

Don’t forget that pests are experts at squeezing under receiving doors and sneaking onto shipments. To prevent unwanted stowaways, ensure your exterior doors form a tight seal when closed and always give delivery trucks and incoming shipments a thorough inspection for pest activity. Pests love to sneak into any opening they can find, so keep building exits, loading docks and other entrances closed as much as possible. Install weather stripping and door sweeps to keep pests out by creating a tight seal around openings. Believe it or not, rats can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter, mice through a gap the size of a dime, and crawling insect pests through spaces barely noticeable to the human eye. For other cracks and crevices, use weather-resistant sealants to close any openings and consider installing metal mesh for an extra layer of protection against rodents that can gnaw openings to get inside.

3. Don’t Forget the Great Outdoors

To keep your exterior spic and span, create and maintain a regular sanitation schedule for your building’s exterior so it doesn’t become a haven for pests.

Regular pressure washings of sidewalks and walls will knock away any debris or build-up on exterior surfaces and could help remove any bird droppings around the property that could be brought inside by foot traffic. While it seems like a no-brainer, keep dumpsters and recycling collections as far away from facilities as possible, and make sure they are cleaned and sanitized frequently. And like interior cleaning best practices, don’t neglect areas above or out of the line of sight like gutters and rooftop ledges. Sometimes, leaves, standing water and other debris can build up over time, which provides breeding areas and shelter for pests—­especially mosquitoes.

Did you know that flies are not just attracted to food processing facilities because of food smells, but also for their exterior lighting? Flies and other flying insects are attracted to light and may use it for orientation. Mercury-vapor lighting is especially attractive to flies, so consider swapping mercury-vapor lamps next to entryways with sodium-vapor lights or LEDs. And to lure flies away from your building, place your facility’s mercury-vapor lighting at least 100 feet from entrances. It is often important to remember that the best option is always to direct lighting towards a building rather than mount lighting on it.

Good outdoor pest maintenance also includes landscaping. Trim your trees often and keep plants at least 12 inches away from your building. This decreases the chance of pests using vegetation as breeding or nesting grounds and the chances they’ll get access to your facility. Standing water often becomes a breeding site and moisture source that could provide pests like flies, mosquitoes and rodents with water necessary for survival. Remove any standing water around your building to prevent this and remove any reason for those pests to stick around. Look for stagnant water in gutters, ponds, birdbaths, water fountains and any other places that water could sit for more than a week without moving.

These proactive pest management tips will be useful in protecting your building and products from food safety threats. If there are any tasks that require additional help, consider talking to your pest management provider about creating an IPM plan. They will walk through your facility with you to identify any hotspots and suggest potential corrective actions—you’ll be glad you did when it’s time for your next audit.

Indicon Gel, biofilm

Spray Gel Detects Biofilm on Surfaces

By Food Safety Tech Staff
No Comments
Indicon Gel, biofilm

The food processing environment is ripe with hot spots where biofilm can hide. A rapid biological hygiene indicator in the form of a spray gel has been developed to provide companies with a visual indication of biofilm on a surface. Once the gel makes contact with biofilm it produces foam within two minutes. Manufactured by Sterilex, Indicon Gel does not require mixing and is appropriate for seek-and-destroy missions. It enables detection of microorganisms that include Listeria, E.coli and Salmonella on both large surfaces as well as niches that cannot be accessed by a swab.

Fast Facts about Biofilm

FDA

FDA Revises Draft Guidance for Listeria Control in RTE Foods

By Food Safety Tech Staff
No Comments
FDA

Any food facility that manufactures, processes, packs or holds ready-to-eat (RTE) foods should view FDA’s update on its draft guidance, Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-To-Eat Foods. Consistent with FSMA, the draft focuses on prevention, and includes best practices and FSIS’s seek-and-destroy approach. Other recommendations include controls involving personnel, cleaning and maintenance of equipment, sanitation, treatments that kill Lm, and formulations that prevent Lm from growing during food storage (occurring between production and consumption).

“This guidance is not directed to processors of RTE foods that receive a listericidal control measure applied to the food in the final package, or applied to the food just prior to packaging in a system that adequately shields the product and food contact surfaces of the packaging from contamination from the food processing environment.” – FDA

The agency will begin accepting comments on January 17.

Recall

Persistent Strain of Salmonella Triggering Dozens of Recalls

By Food Safety Tech Staff
No Comments
Recall

The recalls involving powdered milk continue to pile up.

Since December, more than a dozen products containing powdered milk have been recalled due to the risk of Salmonella, including mini eclairs and cream puffs, mac & cheese products, chocolate-covered pretzels, potato chips, seasonings and white peppermint Hostess Twinkies.

Back in November, FDA seized more than 4 million pounds of dry nonfat milk powder and buttermilk powder produced by Valley Milk Products, LLC. The agency used whole genome sequencing to make the connection between the samples that were collected in the facility—Salmonella strains were found from samples taken in 2016 and back to 2010. FDA identified it as a persistent strain of the pathogen.

“FDA investigators observed residues on internal parts of the processing equipment after it had been cleaned by the company and water dripping from the ceiling onto food manufacturing equipment. In addition, environmental swabs collected during the inspection confirmed the presence of Salmonella meleagridis on surfaces food came into contact with after being pasteurized.” – FDA news release

To date, no illnesses have been reported.

Sanitize without Water, Rinsing or Wiping

No Comments

One of the biggest challenges facing today’s food processors is hygiene and effective sanitation.  Manufacturers concerned about the impact of a recall are turning to a new system that converts alcohol into a non-flammable vapor, making it possible to sanitize surfaces that cannot be quickly sanitized by other methods.

This new system utilizes liquid carbon dioxide as a propellant to spray a fine alcohol mist. Using this process, oxygen is temporarily displaced by an envelope of rapidly expanding CO2 gas, rendering the vapor non-flammable. The patented technology, known as Non-flammable Alcohol Vapor in Carbon Dioxide (NAV-CO2), has recently stepped into the spotlight following the upswing of product recalls and outbreaks of foodborne illness across the nation.

“What makes NAV-CO2 technology unique is that it is non-corrosive, self-drying, and safe for food contact surfaces” says Robert Cook, of Biomist, Inc., the exclusive manufacturer of the technology.  “The ease of use allows one person to effectively sanitize over 4000 square feet in less than two hours. The vapor penetrates into cracks and crevices where pathogens hide, and disinfects areas beyond physical reach. For example, you can sanitize the interior of an electrical panel or between keys of a keyboard and kill pathogens without corrosion.  This can’t be accomplished with traditional sanitizing methods and chemicals.”

“Food processors are protecting their investments by utilizing Biomist systems” says Charles Carman, a quality assurance consultant who works with industry professionals. “Modern electronic packaging equipment is not compatible with corrosive sanitizers and wet-wash methods.  Biomist systems sanitize the sensitive components without damaging them. Food processors recover the investment many times over in fewer service parts and reduced down-time.”

For more information, call 1-847-850-5530 or log on to www.biomistinc.com.

Meritech Helps Companies Improve Employee Hygiene GMPs

No Comments

Meritech, manufacturer of the world’s only fully-automated, touch-free handwashing systems will be exhibiting at the 2016 Food Safety Consortium in Schaumburg, Illinois — with one of its automated handwashers onsite for attendees to experience the technology-based approach to employee hand hygiene. Meritech offers a full line of automated handwashing and footwear sanitizing systems, designed to meet increasingly stringent food safety standards and regulations.

All CleanTech automated handwashing systems deliver a consistent 12-second wash and rinse cycle, removing 99.98% of dangerous pathogens from hands. Meritech products use 75% less water, require less soap/sanitizer, and reduce discharge waste, compared to equivalent manual handwashing.

Listeria and Salmonella outbreaks are some of the biggest fears throughout the food industry. Effective employee hygiene at critical control points is necessary and Meritech offers the best guaranteed preventative measures through its automated systems.  Effective, efficient footwear sanitizing, especially when  combined with simultaneous handwashing, can reduce or eliminate the spread of these and other pathogens. Meritech’s automated handwasher with an optional footwear sanitizing pan guarantees clean hands and sanitized shoes in 12 seconds.

Meritech helps companies in a wide variety of markets, including food production, food service, theme parks, cruise lines and hospitals. All Meritech products are designed and manufactured in Golden, Colorado. The company ensures that your equipment is always effective by delivering best-in-class, proprietary chemicals and providing no charge, onsite scheduled calibration by its team of Service Engineers. Visit www.meritech.com to learn more.

AOAC Neogen

Neogen’s AccuPoint Advanced receives AOAC approval

No Comments
AOAC Neogen

Neogen recently received approval from the AOAC Research Institute for its rapid and accurate AccuPoint Advanced ATP Sanitation Verification System.

Neogen’s AccuPoint Advanced is the first sanitation verification system to receive an AOAC approval, and this approval follows a recent study by NSF International that showed AccuPoint Advanced exceeded the performance of competitive systems.

“Each time we receive a validation from an independent third party on any of our tests, it provides further assurance to the food production and processing industry that our tests perform as expected,” said Ed Bradley, Neogen’s vice president of Food Safety. “The performance of our AccuPoint Advanced system in recent independent evaluations by AOAC and NSF is very gratifying. We developed the product with the goal of creating a new sanitation verification system that is superior to anything else on the market.”

The results in the AOAC validation report (Performance Tested MethodSM 091601) provided evidence that AccuPoint Advanced produces consistent and reliable data for evaluating sanitation program effectiveness in food processing and food services facilities.

AccuPoint Advanced is an enhanced version of its earlier AccuPoint test system. Improvements with AccuPoint Advanced include: improved sampler chemistry to produce more consistent results with even greater sensitivity; an enhanced instrument to produce even faster results (less than 20 seconds); and advanced Data Manager software to easily streamline the testing process by creating test plans and syncing important data, while keeping a permanent record of sanitation test results.

AOAC International is a globally recognized, independent forum for finding appropriate science-based solutions through the development of microbiological and chemical standards. The Applied Research Center at NSF International is a not-for-profit global research group that provides product development support to manufacturers and developers of products in the food safety, agriculture, clinical and life science markets.