Efficacy of Food Safety Best Practices and Management Systems to Control Hazards in Food

NARRATIVE: Despite dramatic improvements in food safety systems and increased regulatory oversight during the past several decades, illnesses caused by consumption of food contaminated by microbial, chemical or physical hazards continue to be a major public health concern in the United States and abroad. The estimated burden of foodborne illness is truly startling. Each year in the United States, it is estimated that 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur (approximately one illness for every four U.S. citizens per year). These illnesses result in an estimated 325,000 annual hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. Furthermore, each year these illnesses are responsible for billions of dollars in costs associated with medical expenses, lost productivity and costs of premature deaths. During the past two decades, fresh and minimally processed fruits and vegetables have increasingly been implicated in foodborne illness outbreaks. These outbreaks most commonly are associated with the bacterial pathogens E. coli O157:H7 or Salmonella. Both of these pathogens can contaminate fresh produce via direct contamination with animal or human feces, or through produce contact with contaminated water. It is exceedingly difficult to remove these pathogens from produce once it has become contaminated, so emphasis must be placed on prevention of contamination at all stages during production and after harvest. Despite the effort invested by governments and the food industry to improve food safety systems during the past several years, there is limited evidence demonstrating that these efforts have improved public health. It is imperative that additional research be conducted to assess the efficacy of food safety standards to reduce the incidence and concentrations of hazardous microorganisms and chemicals in food products. This research project will focus on the safety of fresh and minimally processed fruit and vegetable products such as fruit juices. The objectives of this research are 1) assess the impact of production and processing practices on the incidence and concentrations of selected microbiological and chemical food safety hazards in fruit and vegetable products, and 2) determine the impact of food safety training programs on changes in participant knowledge and behaviors and consequent changes in food safety hazards in food products produced by participant firms. We hypothesize that formal training on food safety best practices will improve behaviors associated with safe food production and ultimately result in safer food. At the completion of these studies, we expect to have identified production and processing practices most related to the incidence and levels of food safety hazards in certain fruit and vegetable products. Further, this research will determine the potential efficacy of food safety training programs and management systems to control food safety hazards in these food products. Collectively, this research will provide valuable information necessary for development and refinement of sound and effective food safety policies by government regulators as well as the private sector.

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APPROACH: The presence and concentrations of selected microbial and chemical food safety hazards in fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products will be quantified to establish baseline parameters for these hazards. These baseline parameters will be statistically compared to data on production and processing practices obtained from surveys and visits to farms and processing facilities. This comparison will facilitate the identification of specific practices that are principally related to the incidence and concentrations of food safety hazards. The primary commodity of focus for these studies initially will be apple juice and cider products produced by small-scale juice and cider manufacturers throughout the state of Michigan. The incidence and concentrations of selected microbiological hazards and indicator organisms will be assessed. Further, the incidence and concentrations of the mycotoxin patulin will be assessed. Questionnaires on production and processing practices will be developed and circulated to apple growers who also produce juice or cider in Michigan. In addition, similar survey instruments will be sent to juice processors who purchase apples from the open market. These questionnaires will be adapted from survey instruments used previously by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and persons in my laboratory. Surveys will be coded to allow for anonymous responses. These survey instruments will be administered by mail, and follow-up mailings will be conducted on two occasions to improve survey response. In addition to written surveys, farms and processing facilities will be visited during the cider season each year. At the visit, the status of the cider mill, the anticipated annual production volume in gallons, the use of thermal pasteurization or UV light irradiation, the implementation of a HACCP plan or other food safety management system, and the proportion of juice processed using these pathogen reduction measures will be estimated for each mill based on the information given by the owner or the person responsible for juice processing. Samples of juice or cider will be obtained from each facility by purchasing a sealed container of finished product. These samples will be transported under refrigeration to the laboratory for microbiological analyses within 24 hours. Formal food safety training curricula will be created and delivered to targeted groups (e.g. fruit and vegetable growers, juice processors, etc.). The impact of this training on participant knowledge and change in behaviors (production and processing practices) will be assessed. The efficacy of selected training programs and implemented quality management systems to control public health hazards will be assessed by measuring the incidence and concentrations of microbiological and chemical hazards in food products obtained from participant establishments.