Food Protection Trends

Abstracts - January 2004

Use of Microbial Modeling and Monte Carlo Simulation to Determine Microbial Performance Criteria on Plastic Cutting Boards in Use in Foodservice Kitchens

Food Allergens: Effectively Managing Processing Risks

Use of Microbial Modeling and Monte Carlo Simulation to Determine Microbial Performance Criteria on Plastic Cutting Boards in Use in Foodservice Kitchens

Donald W. Schaffner,* Samantha Sithole, andRebecca Montville
Food Science Department, Rutgers University, 65 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

SUMMARY
Many foodservice food safety regulation and consumer information bulletins advise frequent cutting board changes. However, few published data are available on microbial contamination rates of in-use cutting boards. The objective of this research was to determine microbial contamination rates, over time, on cutting boards being used in a real foodservice setting.  Twelve different cutting boards were tested at five-minute intervals, over a two-week period, both before use and as they were used to chop various vegetables and raw meats. More than 400 individual observations were made during the two-week period. Food type, area of the cutting board, and sampling time did not influence the rate of bacterial increase over time. Change in bacterial population for each five-minute interval ranged from a decrease of 4 log colony forming units (CFU)/4 cm2 to an increase of 13 log CFU/4 cm2. The median increase was 3 log CFU/4 cm2 per 5-minute interval. The logistic distribution (2.42, 1.22) was chosen to describe the data and was used to create a simple simulation of cutting board contamination over time. Simulation results were used to investigate the relationship between guidelines for cutting board cleanliness and four different frequencies for cutting board change. The simulation predicts that cutting boards used for 15 minutes will contain < 20 log CFU/4 cm2 most of the time. Cutting boards used for 45 minutes would contain < 40 log CFU/4 cm2 more than 99% of the time. Cutting boards used for 60 minutes will usually pass a microbial criterion of 50 log CFU/4 cm2.

 Food Allergens: Effectively Managing Processing Risks

John Williams, Jr.
Silliker, Inc., 900 Maple Road, Homewood, IL 60430

SUMMARY
The numbers are daunting: Twenty thousand people are treated annually in the United States for food allergies, and the number of people with food allergies is growing worldwide. One hundred to 200 people die each year in the United States from food allergy-related reactions. Twenty-five percent of US food manufacturers do not accurately list ingredients, often omitting well-known allergens from product labels.

Faced with these foreboding statistics and costly product liability claims associated with food allergens, increasing numbers of companies are making allergen management programs a vital component of their in-plant quality systems to minimize contamination risks and protect consumers.