6. Food Safety

CHAPTER 6. Food Safety

H. Fred Troutt




UNITED STATES GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES AND REGULATIONS SIGNIFICANTLY INVOLVED IN FOOD SAFETY OF ANIMAL PRODUCTS






I. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)




A. Regulation: Title 21, Food and Drugs, Control of Communicable Diseases




1. Regulates domestic and imported food, except meat, poultry, and processed egg products, to ensure safety and proper labeling


2. Defines milk, milk products, and cream products




a. Defines pasteurization and specifies pasteurization time temperature relationship as follows:





















Temperature Time
145° F 30 minutes
161° F 15 seconds
191° F 1 second
204° F 0.05 seconds
212° F 0.01 seconds


b. Defines ultra-pasteurization: A product thermally processed at or above 280° F for at least 2 seconds either before or after packaging to produce a product with an extended shelf life under refrigeration


B. FDA, US DHHS Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act




1. Provides for definition and standards for food


2. What constitutes adulteration of food (to cause risk of injury to health)?




a. Any poisonous or deleterious substance that can cause injury to health


b. Any added poisonous or deleterious substance


c. Pesticide: Chemical or residue, any food additive, or a new animal drug, all as defined by the Act


d. Whole or in part filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance


e. Prepared, packed, or held under unsanitary conditions


f. Product of diseased animal or an animal that has died otherwise than by slaughter


g. Container in part or whole is made from poisonous or deleterious substance


h. Intentionally irradiated outside of regulations governing irradiation of food


i. Concealment of damage or inferiority of product


j. Valuable constituent has been omitted from the product; damage has been concealed


k. Substance added to increase bulk, reduce quality, or make it appear better or greater value than it is


II. U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS)




A. Agency works to ensure meat, poultry, and some eggs and egg products sold in interstate or foreign trade are safe and properly labeled


B. Authorization under Meat Inspection Act of 1906 providing for the following:




1. Inspection of meat and meat food products




a. Examination of animals before slaughter


b. Diseased animals slaughtered separately and carcasses examined


c. Humane methods of slaughter


2. Postmortem examination of carcasses and marking or labeling of carcasses




a. Destruction of condemned carcasses


b. Reinspection


3. Examination of carcasses brought into slaughter or packing establishments and of meat food products issued from and returned to establishments; conditions for reentry


4. Inspectors of meat food products




a. Marks of inspection


b. Destruction of products


c. Products for export


C. Adopted 1996 The Final Rule on Pathogen Reduction and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems





2. Identify critical control points (CCP). Point, step, or procedure in the process where a control can be applied




a. Preventing, eliminating, or reducing a food safety hazard to an acceptable level


b. Examples include the following:




(1) Chilling temperatures (minimize microbial growth)


(2) Cooking at specific temperatures and times


(3) Adjustment of pH or water activity


(4) Proper sealing of cans, etc.


(5) Slaughter interventions to reduce alleviate contamination


3. Establish critical limits




a. Boundaries of safety for measures put in place at CCPs


b. Maximum or minimum value to control, eliminate, or reduce the hazard at a CCP


c. Usually a reading or observation such as temperature, pH, salt concentration


4. Establish monitoring procedures




a. Activities and procedures done by personnel or mechanical means; measure process at a CCP


b. Create record for future use; continuous monitoring is preferred


5. Establish corrective actions




a. Action taken when monitoring shows a deviation from the critical limit


b. Features include the following:




(1) Has cause of deviation been identified and eliminated?


(2) Will the CCP be under control after corrective action?


(3) Have measures to prevent recurrence of deviation been established?


(4) Do corrective action procedures ensure that no product is injurious to health or otherwise adulterated because of the deviation and product enters commerce?


6. Establish record-keeping procedures: Records must document HACCP system and be an essential feature of HACCP system


7. Establish verification procedures




a. Validation of initial plan, for example, through microbial or chemical testing


b. Ongoing verification: Procedures that ensure that HACCP process is working day to day


c. Reassessment: Overall review of plan periodically (annually) or after changes are made


FOODBORNE ILLNESS (DISEASE)






I. General information




A. Cause: Consumption of contaminated food or beverages




1. Bacteria, viruses, and parasites


2. Toxins or chemicals


B. More than 250 food-borne diseases


C. United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)




1. Estimates 76 million cases of food-borne disease




a. 325,000 hospitalizations


b. 5,000 deaths


2. Most susceptible human populations




a. Very young and very old


b. Immunosuppressed


c. Healthy people exposed to high dosage of an infectious agent


3. Food-borne disease outbreak (FBDO)




a. Two or more people ill after consuming a common food


b. Epidemiologic investigation indicates food as source of illness


c. May be local or widespread (multiple states or national)


d. Case definition developed on a disease-by–disease basis




(1) Clinical description: Incubation period, signs and symptoms, illness length, response to treatment


(2) Diagnostic laboratory and epidemiologic criteria, for example, positive fecal culture; pathogen isolation from suspect food contaminated during processing or and distribution


e. Many food-borne pathogens are zoonotic via ingestion of contaminated foods or food products



E. Most commonly recognized food-borne infections caused by the following:




1. Bacteria




a. Campylobacter spp.


b. Salmonella spp.


c. Escherichia coli 0157:H7


2. Viruses: Calicivirus (Norwalk and Norwalk-like viruses)


F. Food-borne infections (see subsequent sections). Cause: Pathogens that replicate in host after ingestion (e.g. Salmonella spp.)


G. Food-borne intoxication (see subsequent sections): Clinical and pathologic changes caused by the ingestion of preformed toxins (e.g., staphylococcal toxins; botulinum toxin)


II. Common food-borne bacterial pathogens




A. Campylobacter: Most common cause of human diarrheal disease in United States and worldwide (gram-negative)




1. C. jejuni and C. coli (ubiquitous)


2. Animal pathogens (abortion, mastitis, diarrhea in dogs, cats)


3. Zoonotic pathogens (animal reservoirs)




a. Commensal in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of cattle, swine, sheep, goats, poultry, rodents, dogs, and cats




(1) Fecal contamination


(2) Unpasteurized dairy products


(3) Uncooked foods via cross contamination from contaminated meat and poultry


b. Human food-borne illness: Fever, diarrhea (often bloody), abdominal pain/cramps (vomiting rarely marked)




(1) Incubation period: Usually 2-5 days (may extend to 10 days)


(2) Confirmation: Isolation of organism from 2 or more ill people or isolation from implicated food


(3) Risk of antibiotic resistant campylobacter


(4) Complications: Rare, but can include arthritis, meningitis, recurrent colitis, chole cystitis and Guillain-Barre syndrome


(5) General control




(a) Husbandry practices and enhanced livestock hygiene


(b) Hygienic slaughter and processing


(c) Personal sanitation – handwashing; “petting zoos” are a risk


(d) Thorough cooking meat and poultry


(e) Proper storage and refrigeration


B. Salmonella spp. (gram-negative)




1. Greater than 2000 serovars, highly ubiquitous


2. Infects companion and agricultural animals, poultry, birds, rodents, and reptiles


3. Host and nonhost adapted


4. Host adapted




a. S. typhi cause of typhoid fever in humans




(1) Human carrier: Food and water contaminated by feces from carrier


(2) Systemic infection (bacteremia)


(3) Incubation period: 7 to 21 days; slow onset of illness, fever (103 to 104° F) during first 1 to 2 weeks, rash


b. S. pullorum: Poultry pathogen, non-zoonotic


c. S. gallinarum: Poultry pathogen, non-zoonotic


5. Nontyphoid serovars (non-host adapted)




a. Most Salmonella serovars; zoonotic pathogen


b. Widespread in intestines of birds, mammals, and reptiles




(1) Fecal contamination of raw meat (ground beef), poultry, eggs, unpasteurized milk or dairy products, seafood


(2) Contaminated water


c. Human food-borne illness




(1) Two to four million cases per year in United States


(2) Onset dramatic


(3) Incubation period: 6 to 48 hours


(4) Very young, very old, and immunosuppressed increasingly susceptible


(5) Nausea, severe diarrhea, vomiting, headaches, chills, myalgia, and low fever


(6) Invasive organism, enterocolitis


(7) Bacteremia


(8) Chronic complications


d. S. enteritidis most prevalent cause of salmonella outbreaks in United States. Consumption of raw or inadequately cooked whole-shell eggs


e. Confirmation: Isolation of organism from two or more affected people or isolation from implicated food


6. General control: As with Campylobacter

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Apr 6, 2017 | Posted by in GENERAL | Comments Off on 6. Food Safety

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