Control of Salmonella in Low-moisture Foods II: Hygiene Practices to Minimize Salmonella Contamination and Growth

Although low-moisture food products do not support Salmonella growth, the presence of low numbers of Salmonella can still cause illness. Therefore, the presence of the organism in low-moisture ready-to-eat foods must be prevented. To address the need for industrywide guidance, the Grocery Manufacturers Association formed a Salmonella Control Task Force to develop guidance on the control of Salmonella when manufacturing low-moisture foods. Two of the control elements, preventing ingress or spread in a facility and controlling raw materials and incoming ingredients, were described in a previous paper. Here we focus on stringent hygiene practices in the Primary Salmonella Control Area, including control of movement of personnel and material; hygienic design principles, with particular attention given to ensuring that moisture can be excluded from the processing environment; and preventing growth in the facility by control of moisture, which is critically important in preventing Salmonella contamination of low-moisture products.