Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security的动态

Proactive Steps to Strengthen Food Safety and Prevent Listeria Outbreaks The Boar’s Head plant inspection report reveals a pattern of severe sanitation failures. Key findings include mold, meat residue on food-contact surfaces, clogged drains, and improper handling of raw products. These conditions created an environment for Listeria monocytogenes, which thrive in cold, moist environments. Prevention steps you can take immediately to strengthen your operation. 1. Partner with Your Sanitation Chemical Supplier: Collaborate with your sanitation chemical provider to ensure you use the most effective chemicals and concentrations for your facility's specific risks and review their guidance to enhance your protocols. 2. Meet with Your Internal Team: Hold regular meetings with your team to understand their challenges in maintaining sanitation standards, quality requirements, and operational efficiencies. Listening to your team helps identify any roadblocks to compliance. 3. Ensure SOPs Are Simplistic, Clear, and Being Followed: Conduct an assessment to ensure Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are clearly written and fully understood by all employees. This review will help identify any procedural gaps and provide an opportunity to improve clarity. 4. Immediate Sanitation Review: Perform a complete assessment of your sanitation processes, focusing on thoroughly cleaning all areas. Regular maintenance should be reviewed and prioritized to prevent contamination. 5. Employee Training: Provide continuous and comprehensive training on sanitation protocols and food safety best practices to ensure everyone on your team is current and following procedures. 6. Regular Audits and Inspections: Schedule frequent internal and third-party audits to highlight what is working well and to identify opportunities that can be proactively corrected. These events will ensure ongoing compliance and help prevent failures that can lead to contamination. 7. Enhanced Monitoring and Documentation: Strengthen your monitoring of critical control points and sanitation verification checklists and ensure all activities, such as cleaning and equipment maintenance, are fully documented and reviewed regularly. 8. Mentor, Support, and Thank Your Employees: Recognize that your employees are essential to maintaining high sanitation standards. Regularly mentor and support your staff, acknowledging their hard work?and?thanking them for their efforts to keep the facility safe and compliant. Following these steps will significantly reduce the risk of contamination, improve operational efficiencies, and foster a more robust food safety culture in your facility. ? #FoodSafety #SanitationProtocols #SOPCompliance #EmployeeRecognition #ListeriaPrevention #OperationsManagement #TeamTraining #ChemicalSuppliers #PublicHealth

Proactive Steps to Strengthen Food Safety and Prevent Listeria Outbreaks The Boar’s Head plant inspection report reveals a pattern of severe sanitation failures. Key findings include mold, meat residue on food-contact surfaces, clogged drains, and improper handling of raw products. These conditions created an environment for Listeria monocytogenes, which thrive in cold, moist environments. Prevention steps you can take immediately to strengthen your operation. 1. Partner with Your Sanitation Chemical Supplier: Collaborate with your sanitation chemical provider to ensure you use the most effective chemicals and concentrations for your facility's specific risks. 2. Meet with Your Internal Team: Hold regular meetings with your team to understand their challenges in maintaining sanitation standards, quality requirements, and operational efficiencies. Listening to your team helps identify any roadblocks to compliance. 3. Ensure SOPs Are Simplistic, Clear, and Being Followed: Conduct an assessment to ensure Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are clearly written and fully understood by all employees. This review will help identify any procedural gaps and provide an opportunity to improve clarity. 4. Immediate Sanitation Review: Perform a complete assessment of your sanitation processes, focusing on thoroughly cleaning all areas. Regular maintenance should be reviewed and prioritized to prevent contamination. 5. Employee Training: Provide continuous and comprehensive training on sanitation protocols and food safety best practices to ensure everyone on your team is current and following procedures. 6. Regular Audits and Inspections: Schedule frequent internal and third-party audits to highlight what is working well and to identify opportunities that can be proactively corrected. These events will ensure ongoing compliance and help prevent failures that can lead to contamination. 7. Enhanced Monitoring and Documentation: Strengthen your monitoring of critical control points and sanitation verification checklists and ensure all activities, such as cleaning and equipment maintenance, are fully documented and reviewed regularly. 8. Mentor, Support, and Thank Your Employees: Recognize that your employees are essential to maintaining high sanitation standards. Regularly mentor and support your staff, acknowledging their hard work?and?thanking them for their efforts to keep the facility safe and compliant. Following these steps will significantly reduce the risk of contamination, improve operational efficiencies, and foster a more robust food safety culture in your facility. Click here for the referenced article https://lnkd.in/ehZPBX24 ? #FoodSafety #SanitationProtocols #SOPCompliance #EmployeeRecognition #ListeriaPrevention #OperationsManagement #TeamTraining #ChemicalSuppliers #PublicHealth

Food Safety Technology Can Protect Businesses from Recalls and Other?Risks ? A collaborative article written with Patricia Baxter, hopefully an interesting read, combining Quality Management Systems with Food Safety. #NSF #TraQtion

Recent E. coli outbreaks in meat have brought attention to the ongoing challenge of ensuring food safety. You can read about our efforts to establish a food safety culture in processing plants and how we use proven formulations designed to prevent harmful pathogens in this article at https://lnkd.in/g7gET8zj in Meat+Poultry. #FoodSafety?#EColi?#PerasanA?#PerasanMP2?#Perafoam?#PeraDrain

?? VC9100 COMPULSORY SPECIFICATION: GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS ?? Heat Treated and Ready-to-Eat (RTE) Processed Meats Compliance to VC9100 ?? The compliance of heat-treated and RTE processed meats includes the microbiological and food safety-related compositional requirements of these products. As part of mandatory compliance, there are essential administrative requirements that meat processors must meet to ensure proper handling, preparation, processing, and packaging of such products. ??? General Administrative Requirements ??? VC9100 requires that all processed meat products intended for sale comply with its standards. Therefore, the processing facility of these products must: ??? Inspected Annually Inspections are carried out annually for approval by legitimate NRCS inspectors to confirm that production meets the required standards. ? Hold Valid NRCS Approval Facilities must not dispatch or sell processed meat products without a valid NRCS approval certificate. ?? Approval Per Consignment Submit an application for NRCS approval for each consignment of processed meat products. ?? Provide Evidence on Request Be ready to provide the NRCS with satisfactory evidence of conformity upon request. ?? Notify of Production Changes Inform the NRCS about any changes in the production process that may affect food safety requirements under VC9100. ?? Report Any Food Safety Failure If there’s any food safety failure, report it to NRCS immediately, including detailed records of the incident and corrective actions taken. ?? Risk of Suspension NRCS approval may be suspended or withdrawn if there is non-compliance with VC9100, or if the applicant fails to reapply as required. ? Reapply After Suspension If a factory or establishment is suspended, it must reapply to NRCS within three months of the suspension date for reassessment. ?? Accredited Testing Required Testing of microbiological and chemical safety requirements of processed meat products must be done through accredited and validated methods. ?? Risk-Based Sampling For inspection and verification purposes, NRCS may sample products based on regulatory risk-based sampling plans. ?? Notify on Closure Inform the NRCS when closing down. ?? Get in Touch For customized compliance programs related to processed meat regulations, contact Elphus Mkhwebane at [email protected] or Angeline Nel at [email protected] to see how we can assist you in achieving compliance and maintaining the highest standards of product safety. #ProcessedMeatCompliance #VC9100Standards #ProductSafetyMatters #ComplianceSupport #MeatSafety

To build upon the post by Peter Taormina, Ph.D. - Pathogens ARE the enemy, but they don’t make decisions, manipulate processes, cut corners, or prioritize profits. People do. While many in the food industry work diligently to maintain food safety, leaders’ choices can either uphold OR undermine consumer safety. Pathogens ARE the enemy, but they don’t set the tone in a facility—leaders do. Failures often stem not from the pathogens themselves but from decisions to ignore, downplay, or even conceal risks. Pathogens don’t follow HACCP or FSMA —people do … or don’t. Food safety culture is a very HUMAN element that has become a priority across the industry, emphasizing the need for accountability at every level, especially at the top - it’s about the values, priorities, courage, and decisions leaders make every day. What has history taught us? Stewart Parnell, as CEO of the Peanut Corporation of America, knowingly shipped contaminated products, leading to a nationwide Salmonella outbreak. His infamous “just ship it” directive disregarded consumer health, resulting in a tragic outbreak (killing 9 people) that could have been prevented by responsible leadership. Family Dollar’s leadership repeatedly failed to take action and fix conditions that allowed for a severe rodent infestation to persist in an Arkansas distribution center. The resulting recall impacted over 400 communities across six states. At Boar’s Head’s Virginia plant, the USDA documented serious sanitation issues that went unaddressed, decisions that resulted in the deaths of 10 consumers. Back in 1993 - Jack in the Box’s leadership chose not to follow Washington State’s minimum cooking temperature laws, a decision that contributed directly to the outbreak that killed four toddlers- one of whom was my son. Leaders set the tone, the priorities, and the culture within food facilities. Pathogens are indeed the enemy, but we must recognize that some leaders allow that enemy to take root. The idea that “99.9% of industry and government workers are trying to make a difference” is commendable and largely true. I work with and am INSPIRED by so many great people. However, focusing on those positive efforts must not eclipse the responsibility of those in power who do make choices that increase risk for consumers. In food safety, the most powerful control point is responsible leadership. Pathogens ARE the enemy, BUT we must not ignore the role some people play in failing to eliminate that threat. While pathogens ARE the enemy, their impact is determined by how leaders respond to risks. Leaders who prioritize food safety and uphold rigorous food safety & sanitation standards protect consumers. Leaders who ignore or minimize dangers enable pathogens to cause harm and to leave families with a chair forever empty at their tables due to (mostly preventable) food safety failures. Bill Marler Mitzi Baum Frank Yiannas Francine Shaw, CP-FS, FMP Angela Anandappa Ph.D.

Rapid testing methods are an essential component of a robust food safety program, ensuring quick and accurate detection of contaminants. Explore rapid testing methods with this informative article by Food Safety Magazine Rapid Testing Methods—Still a Necessary Part of Food Safety. https://hubs.la/Q02vk7bb0 Did you know the patented QMI Stress Test is a proactive method to monitor critical control points (CCP) for post-pasteurization contamination? Learn more at https://hubs.la/Q02vkbhJ0

USDA Expands Funding Opportunities for Specialty Crop Growers to Help Offset On-Farm Food Safety Expenses for 2024 and 2025 The Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops program helps producers cover costs of on-farm food safety certification in order to meet regulatory requirements and access additional markets. Program Details?? FSCSC assists specialty crop operations that incurred eligible on-farm food safety certification and expenses related to obtaining or renewing a food safety. FSCSC covers a percentage of the specialty crop operation’s cost of obtaining or renewing its certification, as well as a portion of related expenses.? Eligible FSCSC applicants must be a specialty crop operation; meet the definition of a small or medium-size business and have paid eligible expenses related to certification.? A small business has an average annual monetary value of specialty crops sold by the applicant during the three-year period preceding the program year of no more than $500,000. A medium size business has an average annual monetary value of specialty crops the applicant sold during the three-year period preceding the program year of at least $500,001 but no more than $1,000,000.?? Specialty crop operations can receive the following cost assistance:?? Developing a food safety plan for first-time food safety certification.?? Maintaining or updating an existing food safety plan.?? Food safety certification.?? Certification upload fees.?? Microbiological testing for products, soil amendments and water.?? Training.???? FSCSC payments are calculated separately for each eligible cost category. Details about payment rates and limitations are available at?farmers.gov/food-safety.? Specialty crop producers can also call 877-508-8364 to speak directly with a FSA employee ready to assist. Visit?farmers.gov/food-safety?for additional program details, eligibility information and forms needed to apply.?

This is why it's important that you partner with a supplier who has multiple foodsafety intervention steps to ensure your brand is protected. It's also equally as important that your supplier is testing finished product. At Stampede Culinary Partners , foodsafety is one of our top priorities!

This article features otherwise unpublished food safety management data held by BRCGS and Safefood 360° which, combined with real-time events, provides an unparalleled view of current and emerging issues and trends in the food safety industry. A very interesting read, thank you Alec Kyriakides and BRCGS for putting this together.