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Food Protection Trends
Abstracts - January 2003
Providing an Adequate Supply of Microbiologically
Safe and Palatable Food and Drinking Water: Contribution of a European Vertically
Integrated Approach to Educating Professionals and Consumers - Part I
Comparison of Intervention Technologies for Reducing
Escherichia coli O157:H7 on Beef Cuts
and Trimmings
Hygienic Status of Meals in Airline Catering
Providing an Adequate Supply of
Microbiologically Safe and Palatable Food and Drinking Water: Contribution of
a European Vertically Integrated Approach to Educating Professionals and Consumers
- Part I
This is Part 1 of a three-part series. Part II will run in February and
Part III will run in March.
D. A. A. Mossel,1G. P. Morris,2, 3,C.
B. Struijk,1, 4J. M. Cowden,2andL. M. Browning2
1-Eijkman Foundation for Postgraduate
Education and Research in the Medical Microbiology of Foods and Drinking Water
at Utrecht University, P.O. Box 6024, 3503 PA Utrecht, The Netherlands; 2-Scottish
Centre for Infection and Environmental Health, Clifton House, Clifton Place,
Glasgow G3 7LN; 3-University of Strathclyde, Division of Environmental Health,
Glasgow, Scotland; 4-University of Hertfordshire, Faculty of Natural S
ciences, Hatfield, Herts., UK
SUMMARY
Great efforts are being made, almost worldwide, to identify and subsequently
rectify potential causes of process control failures that endanger the microbiological
safety of foods. This is being done through application of HACCP-based intervention
technologies, relying on impressive scientific and technological knowledge.
Nonetheless, food-transmitted infections and intoxinations with a microbiological
etiology remain worryingly common.
This failure in management implies the need for a critical
review of the strategies in use for protection of the public, with reference,
among many other commodities, to catered meals, especially those sold by smaller
and less developed enterprises. Success will hinge on motivating and educating
all staff whose actions might adversely affect food safety. A decisive
element in these efforts will be to ensure compliance with the Wilson Triad,
i.e., longitudinally integrated management of contamination, colonization, and
microbial metabolism.
Relevant professionals need improved understanding of the
crucial elements of microbiological food and water safety assurance: the interactions
between the commodities and their biotic associations, i.e., microbial ecology.
Although an abundant number of meetings on this subject have been convened,
structured professional education, ending in at least some test of satisfactory
digestion of the presentations, has been mostly lacking. These considerations
have prompted the creation of a unique distance-learning course: the European
MSc in Public Health Science (Food and Drinking Water). The course
is a joint initiative of the University of Hertfordshire, the Eijkman Foundation
at the University of Utrecht, and the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental
Health. It is intended that the project will evolve to embrace academic institutions
in other European Union countries.
Comparison
of Intervention Technologies for Reducing Escherichia
coli O157:H7 on Beef Cuts and Trimmings
J. R. Ransom, K. E. Belk,* J. N. Sofos, J. D. Stopforth, J. A. Scanga, andG.
C. Smith
Center for Red Meat Safety, Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University,
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1171
SUMMARY
This study evaluated the decontamination efficacy of water (W; 25° or
55oC), 2% acetic acid (AA), 0.001% acidified chlorine (AC), 2% lactic acid (LA;
55oC), 0.02% acidified sodium chlorite (ASC), 0.5% cetylpyridinium chloride
(CPC), 1% lactoferricin B (LB), and 0.02% peroxyacetic acid (PAA) on Escherichia coli O157:H7 when applied to fresh beef carcass tissue
(BCT) surfaces (40 cm2) and lean tissue pieces (LTP; 300 g). Samples
were inoculated with a five-strain composite of E. coli O157:H7 and then immersed in the treatment solutions for 30
s. Viable cell counts were enumerated by plating on sorbitol MacConkey (SMAC)
agar. Overall, CPC was most effective (P
< 0.05) and reduced bacterial populations by 4.8 log CFU/cm2 and 2.1 log
CFU/g on BCT and LTP, respectively. Of the treatments commonly used by
industry, LA was the most effective (P
< 0.05), as it reduced pathogen populations by 3.3 log CFU/cm2 and 1.3 log
CFU/g on BCT and LTP, respectively. Additionally, ASC, AA, PAA, LB, AC and W
reduced pathogen populations when plated on SMAC by 1.9, 1.6, 1.4, 0.7, 0.4
and 1.2 log CFU/cm2, when applied to BCT, while corresponding reductions following
the above treatment applications to LTP were 1.8, 1.1, 1.0, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.3
log CFU/g, respectively. Results from this study indicated that LA and ASC were
the most effective pathogen decontamination solutions currently approved for
commercial use. Information regarding the antibacterial efficacy of decontamination
solutions should prove beneficial to industry personnel as a means of improving
microbiological quality as well as potentially improving the quality of non-intact
beef tissue.
Hygienic Status of Meals in Airline
Catering
Sabine Thielke,1Annette Scheuren2andReinhard
Fries1
1-Institute of Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene of Domestic Animals,
University of Bonn, Germany 53115 Bonn, Katzenburgweg 7-9; 2-Institute of Meat
Hygiene and Technology, Free University of Berlin, Bruemmer Str. 10, 14195 Berlin
SUMMARY
Three different types of foods (cold meals) of an airline caterer were microbiologically
examined with a stage-by-stage approach. From the onset of manipulation of the
foods, increased microbiological contamination was observed. The sliced Frankfurter-type
sausage was already highly contaminated in the first stage (original); the tureen
and whole bulk egg experienced an increasing Aerobic Plate Count (APC) during
the course of production. The same was true for positive samples of lactobacilli,
Enterobacteriaceae and staphylococci.
Using the AEA guidelines for aircraft-ready food, the microbiological status
was beyond the limits (APC and Staphylococcus),
particularly for the whole bulk egg and the frankfurter-type sausage. Nineteen
percent of the whole sampling lot had more than 106 CFU/g. With regard to staphylococci,
13% of our samples contained more than 102 cfu/g. As a preventive measure,
and particularly with respect to special types of food, the meal production
steps of airline catering firms should be examined more closely. Health. It
is intended that the project will evolve to embrace academic institutions in
other European Union countries."
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