While the number of recalls due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination on ready-to-eat meat and poultry products have decreased, the pathogen is still a challenge to control for meat and poultry processors, especially the small processors. There have been several efforts to control this pathogen for the past decade, but recent USDA-FSIS regulations have prompted the RTE meat and poultry industry to take a fresh look and institute controls to reduce the risk of this pathogen. There is an increasing volume of research being conducted on control strategies for this pathogen, especially in RTE meat and poultry products. These strategies include improved sanitation methods to eliminate the pathogen from the RTE meat and poultry processing environment, post-lethality treatments to reduce the populations as well as a myriad of antimicrobial agents to control growth during subsequent refrigerated storage. This workshop is intended to train the trainers such as extension personnel at land grant universities, food safety personnel at meat processing establishments and other food safety consultants who work with processors routinely.
This train-the-trainer workshop is partially funded by a grant from the National Integrated Food Safety Initiative (Special Emphasis Grant No. 2005-51110-03278) of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, US Department of Agriculture to Colorado State University, Cornell University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State University and The Ohio State University. The project focused on the development of methods and technologies to reduce the risk of L. monocytogenes in RTE meat and poultry products. The workshop is designed to provide state-of-the-art knowledge on control of L. monocytogenes and reducing its risk to the processors as well as the consumers.
Topics:
• Communicating with an Adult Audience – Relevance to Extension Education
Programs
• Listeria monocytogenes: Is It Still an Issue in RTE Meat and Poultry Products?
• Listeria monocytogenes – Ecology of an Elusive Foodborne Pathogen in RTE
Processing Environment
• Regulations Pertaining to RTE Meat and Poultry Products – Current Perspective
• Post Lethality Treatments to Reduce Listeria monocytogenes on RTE Meat and Poultry Products – An Update
• Antimicrobial Agents to Control Listeria monocytogenes on RTE Meat and Poultry Products – An Update
• Strategies to Control Listeria monocytogenes on RTE Meat and Poultry Products – A Small Processor Perspective
Instructors:
Dennis E. Burson, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
Pat Kendall, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Randall Phebus, Kansas State University, Food Science Institute, Manhattan, KS, USA
John Sofos, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Harshavardhan Thippareddi, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA
Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Organizer:
Harshavardhan Thippareddi, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA
