Expert: New FDA Food Processing Guidelines a Start, Not a Panacea

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration draft offering guidance to processors on how to safeguard against microbial contamination is a good start, according to an Alabama Cooperative Extension System food safety expert.

But does it go far enough? “Definitely not,” she says.

The document, titled “Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards of Fresh-cut Fruits and Vegetables,” suggests that processors adopt a state-of-the-art food safety program known as HACCP, for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points. HACCP is an outgrowth of the NASA moon mission, developed by Pillsbury Corporation in the 1960s to minimize the risk of foodborne illness on deep space flights.

Among many guidelines outlined in the draft, processors are encouraged to establish policies by which every employee is required to report active cases of illness to supervisors before beginning work and training.

“I think it’s a good first step to make employees aware of the risks associated with illnesses that can be brought into the workplace and ultimately passed along to produce,” says Dr. Jean Weese, an Extension food safety specialist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science.

As Weese sees it, one shortfall associated with the FDA guidelines is that they do not provide workers with an incentive to report illnesses on the job.

“The problem is that in many of these plants, if the employees miss the work, they don’t get paid,” she says. “So there’s no incentive to report the illness.”

Under the proposed guidelines, processors also would be encouraged to train supervisors to recognize signs of infectious disease among workers and not to allow an employee to work with any aspect of fresh produce or processing equipment or tools until a wound has healed or an infectious disease has been treated.

While crediting this as a critical safeguard, Weese says another key provision should be requiring workers to wear gloves and to follow stringent hand washing provisions, both of which can go a long way toward reducing cross-contamination risks.

“Even if they are sick, if you wash your hands thoroughly and wear gloves, you are going to reduce those risks considerably,” she says.

The peeling, slicing, coring and trimming associated with fruit and vegetable processing increases the likelihood of cross-contamination and the growth of pathogens by removing the natural barriers associated with many of these products, Weese says. This accounts for why FDA recommends that processors adopt HACCP procedures as a means of identifying points along the processing chain where contamination is likely to occur, she says, adding that produce processors currently are not required to adopt these procedures.

However, she says other sectors of the food industry already are required to adopt HACCP procedures, including meat, poultry, pork and seafood.

While all of the steps outlined in the FDA draft likely would reduce the risk of cross-contamination, another critical step should involve ensuring that freshly harvested produce shipped to the plant for processing also is free of harmful pathogens.

“There should be steps already taken before the produce enters the plant to ensure that it’s been grown under certain conditions,” Weese says.

The beef industry already is required to follow these sorts of criteria, and Weese says it is high time produce was, too.

“It’s more imperative than ever to ensure that that produce is safe before it reaches the plant,” Weese says, adding that even the best hygienic practices in the plant will not make up for lapses in the field.

“We know that even washing with almost pure chlorine for up to 15 minutes doesn’t kill all the pathogens that hide in all the nooks and crannies of fresh fruits and vegetables.”

Citing the results of her own research, Weese says pathogens that are taken up in the plant from contaminated soil and water “have been known to live in the plant for days and even weeks, depending on the bacteria and plant itself.”

Posted by Jim Langcuster at March 16, 2007 01:50 PM | TrackBack