LONE STAR PERSPECTIVE
February 2008

“ The safety of our food supply depends heavily on the intelligence, resourcefulness, and invest igative natures of many of the members of our Association "
by Gary Acuff, IAFP President        

Have you ever noticed that there are certain foods consumers typically regard as “dangerous” or “safe” in regard to foodborne illness risk, but that their risk assessment just doesn’t match up with reality? For example, consumers will invariably tell you that mayonnaise and products containing it are inherently dangerous; never mind that the pH of commercial mayonnaise is probably low enough to be used as paint stripper on furniture. When I have read a newspaper report of foodborne illness associated with potato salad at a potluck to my undergraduate food microbiology class, at least one of the students will knowingly nod and state, “You have to be careful with that mayonnaise!” I suppose when students left home for college, loving moms around the world must have given them parting advice to be careful with their mayonnaise consumption.

The reverse situation exists for products like chocolate, peanut butter and salsa. We eat a lot of salsa in Texas, so maybe I hear this more than you do, but I can’t tell you how many times someone has mentioned to me that they are absolutely sure the salsa is safe. How could those little germs possibly survive the heat of a hot sauce made with all those spicy jalapeños? Consumers often assume that because the sauce is spicy, bacteria or viruses cannot survive. Of course, that is where
they would be wrong—bacteria laugh at hot salsa that you swear could take the lining off the inside of your mouth. Better check the pH of salsa before assuming it is safe!

The same situation is true for chocolate. Before the 1970s, nobody ever thought chocolate or cocoa powder could be a source of salmonellosis. But then there were a couple of big outbreaks that really got our attention, and we learned some fascinating things about chocolate: Who would have imagined that Salmonella could survive for years in chocolate? Also, research at the time showed that Salmonella displayed an unusually high heat resistance in chocolate, due to protection by the fat and the low water activity of the product. And no matter how many outbreaks of foodborne illness we have had associated with chocolate, informing the typical consumer that a small risk does exist is almost guaranteed to get a surprised response.

How many US consumers were shocked last summer to hear that peanut butter was contaminated with Salmonella ? I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of consumers never thought anything could ever be wrong with their beloved peanut butter. The outbreak that occurred and the resulting recalls truly shook consumers’ faith in the safety of our food supply. Nothing confuses consumers more than finding out something they thought was inherently safe is now dangerous. Of course, as food microbiologists, we all knew there is a small risk, but who wants to concern consumers with small risks? They have enough to worry about without adding that to their list. Unfortunately, peanut butter is on their list now. Probably right under mayonnaise.

The bottom line is, we can never take anything for granted in food safety. We cannot assume that we have all the answers, and we can never assume the consumer has an inherent ability to know which food is likely to be safe and which is likely to be dangerous. Unfortun-ately, with today’s consumers, we would probably be better off assuming they have no clue what is safe and what is not.

I could give you hundreds of examples to discuss issues that have s urprised consumers, but now I have gotten myself sidetracked. What I really wanted to talk with you about in this column is something you already know—that food safety is often not obvious. The safety of our food supply depends heavily on the intelligence, resourcefulness, and invest igative natures of many of the members of our Associati on. We have some extremely talented people in IAFP, but we may be the only people who really know that our members are extremely talented. The average consumer probably doesn’t appreciate what we do—they are already past the latest food recall and likely couldn’t care less about our role in food safety. But that doesn’t lessen the importance of what we do, nor does it decrease the real impact of our actions. That is why it is so important for us to encourage each other and compliment colleagues when we have the chance, and that chance is now.

IAFP award nominat ions are due March 4, 2008. Please take a few minutes to think about how
our field has impacted consumer safety and consider those individ-uals who have made a quiet, but important contribution. What would it mean to them to receive an award at the IAFP Annual Meeting? How many times, after one of our members has passed away, have we recalled all the things they did for our association and our field of food safety and wished we had taken the opportunity to recognize their contr ibutions with an award. A post humous award is a nice gesture, but we really do need to recognize our members before they are gone. This is such an essential practice, and we often take the opportunity for granted. I sure hate to see a year go by where we have an award available and there is no nomination. I am positive there is always someone out there who was busy advanc-
ing food safety worldwide, and we just didn’t have time to get a nomination submitted.

So I am asking you take a few minutes, think about your colleagues and their contributions, and see if you don’t come up with a name of someone that deserves to be recognized. If you need help submitting the award nomination, let the IAFP staff know and they will be glad to get you connected with someone who can help.

And, by the way, since Valentine ’s Day is approaching rapidly in the US, be sure and buy lots of chocolate for your sweetie. But be sur e to write down and keep the lot number handy. You never know when you may need to retrieve your gift to save a relationship from Salmonella !

As always, I am all ears if you have comments, recommendations or just want to talk. E-mail me at gacuff@tamu.edu.