New food safety training techniques required; with Kevin McDonald

I don’t know Kevin McDonald but I’ve laughed with him for 20 years as one of the founders of the popular Canadian comedy troupe, Kids in the Hall.

I also regularly insert his videos into barfblog.com, and say catchlines to Amy like, How the Hell Could I Know, or I Can’t Help Blaming Myself, but I Also Can’t Help Not Caring, Slipped My Mind, and There’s Nothing Like Clean Sheets (and a rock hard alibi).

So who knew I’d have a grad student that knew Kevin.

But this is really about that graduate student, Rob Mancini, who got his research published.

It’s not a TV show, but for science nerds, it’s the credibility that counts.

New methods of food safety training need to be developed and health inspections do help correct unsafe food preparation practices, according to new research from Kansas State University.

Rob Mancini, a MS graduate of Kansas State and a health inspector with the Manitoba Department of Health, led a study of how to improve food safety at Folklorama in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, a 14-day temporary food service event that explores the many different cultural realms of food, food preparation, and entertainment.

The results were published in the Oct. issue of the Journal of Food Protection.

In 2010, the Russian pavilion at Folklorama was implicated in a foodborne outbreak of Escherichia coli O157 that caused 37 illnesses and 18 hospitalizations. The ethnic nature and diversity of foods prepared within each pavilion presents a unique problem for food inspectors, as each culture prepares food in their own unique way.

The Manitoba Department of Health and Folklorama Board of Directors realized a need to implement a food safety information delivery program that would be more effective than a 2-h food safety course delivered via PowerPoint slides. The food operators and event coordinators of five randomly chosen pavilions selling potentially hazardous food were trained on-site, in their work environment, focusing on critical control points specific to their menu. A control group (five pavilions) did not receive on-site food safety training and were assessed concurrently. Public health inspections for all 10 pavilions were performed by Certified Public Health Inspectors employed with Manitoba Health. Critical infractions were assessed by means of standardized food protection inspection reports.

The results suggested no statistically significant difference in food inspection scores between the trained and control groups. However, it was found that inspection report results increased for both the control and trained groups from the first inspection to the second, implying that public health inspections are necessary in correcting unsafe food safety practices. The results further show that in this case, the 2 hour food safety course delivered via slides was sufficient to pass public health inspections. Further evaluations of alternative food safety training approaches are warranted.

“Rob was an outstanding graduate student and his research highlights the value of reality research,” said supervisor Dr. Douglas Powell, a professor of food safety in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology at Kansas State University. “The research was done in the field, Rob took all his courses by distance, but we communicated regularly using electronic tools.

Other authors include Dr. Leigh Murray of the Dept. of Statistics at Kansas State, and Dr. Ben Chapman, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University.

A video highlighting the results of the research featuring Mancini and Kevin McDonald is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLlrv-3266o&feature=youtu.be.

Investigating the potential benefits of on-site food safety training for Folklorama, a temporary food service event

01.oct.12

Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 75, Number 10, October 2012 , pp. 1829-1834(6)

Mancini, Roberto; Murray, Leigh; Chapman, Benjamin J.; Powell, Douglas A.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp/jfp/2012/00000075/00000010/art00014

6 sick with Salmonella; faith-based food safety at Johns Hopkins

Irony can be ironic: like when students at a big shot medical campus are stricken with Salmonella.

Especially when the administrators of the big shot medical school can’t be bothered to provide sick or concerned students with anything but platitudes.

The Johns Hopkins News-Letter writes that last Saturday, Dean of Student Life Susan Boswell sent an email to Hopkins students informing them of a salmonella outbreak occurring on the Homewood campus.

Six undergraduate students have been diagnosed with salmonella poisoning.

The salmonella cases have spurred an epidemiologic investigation led by the Baltimore City Health Department and Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in cooperation with the Student Health and Wellness Center.

The investigation, which includes interrogation of those affected, is ongoing and the source of the salmonella is still unknown.

Kompan Ngasmsnga, Acting Director of the Office of Acute Communicable Diseases in the Baltimore City Health Department, is one of the major players in conducting this investigation to find the source of the salmonella bacteria. “At this point, most of the cases are either freshmen or sophomores, and their commonality is that they ate in the Fresh Food Café,” Ngasmsnga said.

However, this does not mean that students should be wary each time they eat at the Fresh Food Café. “Our students’ health and food safety has always been, and will continue to be, the most important component of our program,” David Furhman, Director of Dining Programs, wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

Boswell reaffirmed this in her email when she stated that no new cases had been reported in eight days. Even Joffe sees no problem with eating campus food. “I have no reason to think that eating university food is unsafe,” Joffe wrote. “Personally, I would not hesitate to eat at the FFC, Nolan’s or Levering.”

The salmonella cases will not affect the Fresh Food Café’s relationship with caterer Aramark in the year before their contract expires.

“There is no reason for this issue to affect our relationship with Aramark, now or moving forward,” Furhman wrote. “Aramark’s broad-based and extensive safety and sanitation policies and procedures are designed to safeguard against all food borne issues and illnesses. Those rigorous policies and procedures cover each and every aspect of the food service process, from procurement of food from reputable suppliers, through and including cooking and holding food at proper temperatures.”

Many students, however, have a different take on the issue. As a Hopkins freshman, Henry Bernstein goes to the FFC multiple times a day. “I have no idea how safe the food is.” Bernstein said, “It’s very concerning that people are getting salmonella. There is no place else I can get food.”

Freshman Carly Greenspan agrees. “My issue is that the FFC is where most people go, so a lot of people who have meal plans don’t really have a choice. And if you don’t know what’s in the food you are eating — that’s scary,” Greenspan explained.

Food safety culture is key for XL; but these comments are great

I don’t know Alex Stanoprud but he writes in the Montreal Gazette this morning as someone who has worked for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency his entire career,

“I wanted to set the record straight on the recall of contaminated beef from the XL Foods plant in Alberta.

“Readers should know that E. coli contamination comes from excrement. When animals are slaughtered, there is excrement on their hides. (Go to any farm and you will see animals with some excrement on them.) If precautions are not taken during the removal of the hide in the slaughtering process, the excrement can be spread from the hide to the meat carcass.

“The article “Butchers troubled by recall” (Gazette, Oct. 2) quotes a Montreal restaurateur who says that because the beef he serves is kosher, it is less likely to have E. coli contamination. But kosher practices for slaughtering animals have nothing to do with how the hide of the animal is taken off. The same abattoir, same personnel, and same way of removing the hides and the intestinal tract, are involved.

“Comments by the head of the union that represents federal meat inspectors, suggesting more inspectors are needed to prevent such outbreaks, are misleading. Of course the union wants the government to hire more inspectors; that will put more revenue into the union coffers. But an increase in the number of inspectors does not mean more contamination will be discovered.

“Can an inspector identify a steak that has been contaminated? Absolutely not. Can the inspector take samples? Yes, but in all likelihood that one contaminated steak will be missed in his or her sample-taking. There is no way that even an army of inspectors can detect bacteria on a product once it gets there. Testing will give a snapshot of bacterial conditions, but it will not prevent food-borne illness unless you test every piece — and that’s impossible.

“The U.S. and Canadian inspection agencies are aware of this fact. That is why they have introduced a system called Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points for meat plants. Under HACCP, inspectors use a document that contains a checklist of items that need to be evaluated in order to determine whether companies have, and use, all the necessary recourses to prevent food contamination. In the case of the XL Foods contamination, we can only assume that this system failed. Why? We can only speculate that neither the company nor the inspectors did their job.

So let me set the record straight. The problem has nothing to do with whether meat is fresh or frozen, whether it is organic, or whether it is kosher. And it not merely through more testing — and definitely not through the hiring of more inspectors — that we will prevent foodborne illness. The solution is for Ottawa to send qualified auditors into the plants on a regular basis, to see if the companies, and the inspectors, are doing their job.

All of a sudden there is an outbreak and a team of experts from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is being sent to find the culprit. Maybe, instead of adding more inspectors and spending taxpayers’ dollars to no avail, this team should have a permanent place in the industry.”

Our version on this is available here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713512004409?v=s5

Food Control

D.A. Powell, S. Erdozain, C. Dodd, R. Costa, K. Morley, B.J. Chapman

Abstract

Internal and external food safety audits are conducted to assess the safety and quality of food including on-farm production, manufacturing practices, sanitation, and hygiene. Some auditors are direct stakeholders that are employed by food establishments to conduct internal audits, while other auditors may represent the interests of a second-party purchaser or a third-party auditing agency. Some buyers conduct their own audits or additional testing, while some buyers trust the results of third-party audits or inspections. Third-party auditors, however, use various food safety audit standards and most do not have a vested interest in the products being sold. Audits are conducted under a proprietary standard, while food safety inspections are generally conducted within a legal framework. There have been many foodborne illness outbreaks linked to food processors that have passed third-party audits and inspections, raising questions about the utility of both. Supporters argue third-party audits are a way to ensure food safety in an era of dwindling economic resources. Critics contend that while external audits and inspections can be a valuable tool to help ensure safe food, such activities represent only a snapshot in time. This paper identifies limitations of food safety inspections and audits and provides recommendations for strengthening the system, based on developing a strong food safety culture, including risk-based verification steps, throughout the food safety system.

Kentucky restaurant shut down after road kill deer found in kitchen

WYMT reports a Chinese restaurant was forced to shut its doors after getting caught with a dead deer in the kitchen.

It happened Thursday afternoon at the Red Flower Chinese Restaurant in Williamsburg.

“We were actually joking about the, you know, the whole Chinese restaurant. You know some rumors that you hear,” says Katie Hopkins, a customer of the Red Flower restaurant.

But, Hopkins and her friends never imaged what would happen next, after finishing up a buffet lunch.

“Two of the workers came in wheeling a garbage can and they had a box sitting on top of it. And hanging out of the garbage can, they were trying to be real quick with it. So that nobody could see it. But there was like a tail, and a foot and leg. Sticking out of the garbage can and they wheeled it straight back into the kitchen,” adds Hopkins.

Hopkins immediately called the health department to describe what she saw, “Many people eat there. A lot of locals eat there on lunch breaks and stuff. It was very disturbing. There was actually a blood trail that they were mopping up behind the garbage can.”

Paul Lawson, the environmental health inspector in Whitley County says this is the craziest thing he’s ever seen.

After he arrived at the Chinese restaurant on south highway 25 West, he says the complaints proved to be true after finding roadkill in the restaurants kitchen.

Lawson tells us that the owner’s son admitted to picking up a dead deer off the side of I-75 north in Williamsburg.

This prompted the health department to immediately shut down business.

“They said they didn’t know that they weren’t allowed to. So that makes me concerned. But maybe thy could have before. They didn’t admit to doing it before,” says Lawson.

Lawson tells us that the restaurant can reopen if they pass a secondary health inspection, proving that they have washed, rinsed, and sanitized the restaurant after having roadkill inside.

The restaurant owner tells the health department that he wasn’t going to serve the road kill to customers, but instead to his family.

Fancy French food not safe food – Vegas edition

KTNV reports that at a place that serves oxtail, foie gras, lobster and lamb, you don’t expect to find problems in the kitchen. But a restaurant whose name is synonymous with elegance and fine dining barely dodged being shut down in this week’s Dirty Dining.

Something stinks in the kitchen at Andre’s French restaurant in the Monte Carlo. Or at least it did on Sept. 12 when health inspectors downgraded it to a “C” with 40 demerits.

Inspectors noted a “severe odor” upon entering Andre’s kitchen. And that’s just the beginning of a lengthy report on the most honored and awarded restaurant in Las Vegas.

Instead of accolades for Andre’s, health inspectors blasted the place for their handling of potentially hazardous foods… saying their methods were unapproved, improper and in violation of Health District regulations.

As a result, Andre’s had to toss a whole lot of high-end, expensive food into the garbage, including crab, pork belly, oxtail, turkey stuffing and pickled lamb.

The trash can also became home to moldy, shredded cheese inspectors found in the fridge.

They also found foie gras and lots of other food that had overstayed its welcome.

Mashed potatoes and shallots in oil were found at unsafe temperatures. And duck fat had been sitting out at room temperature for three days.

Frankincense labeled “do not eat” was found amidst the dry goods. And personal drinks were found with public food.

Old labels were found on various cleaned food containers, leaving inspectors skeptical as to how well the containers were cleaned.

There was too much build-up in the ice machine. And scale coated the pressure gage — which had a broken needle to boot.

The vector bug light was directly over the dry storage racks — luring bugs toward, instead of away from the food.

Inspectors found stained cutting boards and splintered wood planks. And they say Andre’s was improperly canning cooked tomato sauce, onions, carrots and artichokes.
Instead of seeing how things look now inside Andre’s kitchen, we were shut out of the restaurant and the Monte Carlo.  Andre’s sent a written statement: 

Andre’s Director of Operations/Managing Partner Joseph Marsco:

We work closely with the Southern Nevada Health District to ensure the health and safety of our guests, and support this effort further with our Company’s safety policies and programs.  Andre’s has consistently maintained the highest standards for quality and service since its opening in 1997. 

Just not food safety.

Canadian ag minister Ritz out to lunch – again

This guy should have been booted from Canadian cabinet in 2008, with his bungling over the Maple leaf Listeria outbreak that killed at least 23 people. But, he’s still there, just another reflection of the rise of mediocrity in Canada. But why listen to this grumpy old man. Jim Romahn, who’s grumpier and older writes:

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is once again out to lunch while a meat packer undergoes a huge recall of tainted products.

When it was Maple Leaf Foods Inc. recalling processed meats, many of them cold cuts, because of Listeria monocytogenes, Ritz said it was death by a thousand cold cuts.

That went over really well with the families of the 21 people who died and others who were sickened.

Now in the midst of a massive and growing recall of ground beef and steaks from XL Foods Inc. of Edmonton, he is quoted in Hansard saying “The people at CFIA have done an exemplary job.”

Yeah, right!

So wonderful that they missed all of those deficiencies and failures to conduct adequate testing and to keep adequate food-safety records.

That only surfaced after the massive recall began, when, in farmer language, the horse had escaped from the barn.

And why, pray tell, has the CFIA failed to require the company to keep good enough records that there could, and should, have been only one recall. We’re now up to eight and still counting.

Ritz said the CFIA is working hard to regain the confidence of the United States meat packers and Food Safety and Inspection Service and “to get back into that lucrative American market.”

I guess the Canadian market doesn’t count.

Ritz is once again out to lunch, apparently oblivious to the hit that beef consumption is taking because Canadians are afraid to buy hamburger from any of the major supermarket chains. I have encountered a number of people who say they’ve stopped buying hamburger at supermarkets. Maybe also the fast-food restaurant chains, although I haven’t personally heard any comments about them.

Ritz said “I reiterate that none of the product made it to store shelves and no illnesses have been linked back to this particular strain of E. coli.

“We have actually done a tremendous job.”

I guess the Calgary famlly whose little girl is in hospital with, the parents say,  E. coli food poisoning, are really impressed with this “tremendous job.”

The food inspection service at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is in dire need of a shakeup, or shakedown.

And it’s not only meats that require a total overhaul.

Eggs are another product where the CFIA track record is abysmal, as revealed in court documents related to the lawsuits against Ontario’s two dominant egg graders and the general manager of the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board.

Eggs that passed CFIA inspection at the two dominant egg-grading company plants, and that were requested by the general manager of the egg board, arrived at another egg-grading station dirty, so cracked and broken that they were leaking all over. These were supposedly Grade A eggs.

And if you believe the claims of the dominant egg grading companies that the eggs were Grade A when they left their premises and must have become dirty, cracked and broken in transit, then I’d like to interest you in investing in some swamp land in Florida.

And if they did get dirty, cracked and broken in transit, what does that say about those companies’ trucking performance?

But the obvious need for major changes to food inspection at the CFIA are not going to happen under Ritz who says they are doing “a tremendous job” or “an exemplary job.”

He’s out to lunch. Maybe of a thousand cold cuts.

Meanwhile beef farmers and the entire meat-packing industry suffers a loss of consumer confidence.

Holland America cruise ship fails CDC inspection

My parents got the cruise fever later in life, but I’m not sure I can convince them to ship to Australia; maybe too close to my father’s family who, while not poor enough to get shipped to the colony, were poor enough to get sent to Wales.

And then there’s that food safety thing.

Cruise Critic reports that cinnamon sticks stored next to a baited roach trap, blocks of nonpotable carving ice in contact with containers of ice cream and more than a dozen live flies were recently discovered on Veendam by health inspectors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those and over 100 other infractions earned the Holland America ship a failing score of 77 out of 100 on its August 19 vessel sanitation inspection.

The CDC’s surprise cruise ship cleanliness exam is conducted twice a year, with an 86 considered passing. 

In a detailed report, inspectors documented finding live flies in a pastry dry stores locker, a provisions room, a prep room and numerous galleys throughout the ship. The report recommended that crew effectively control the presence of insects, rodents and other pests to minimize their presence in the food storage, preparation and service areas. 

Inspectors also found a number of washing and food storage devices, including refrigerators and dishwashing machines, were in need of repair. A leak in a water line directly above one dishwashing machine resulted in water dripping into the machine and contaminating clean dishes after they were sanitized. According to the report, workers were then observed taking contaminated dishes and putting them into clean storage racks. 

Georgia Chick-fil-A has issues

Maybe Chick-fil-A, the anti-gay fast food outlet, should focus less on social engineering and more on food safety.

The Barrow Patch reports as part of its weekly roundup of restaurant inspections that the Chick-fil-A at 850 Loganville Highway, Bethlehem featured:

• single service cups stored in outside rooms — water heater closet and electrical panel room;

• cutting boards heavily scarred/stained; and,

• inside of chicken defrost coolers with food/juice accumulation.

No critical violations, but I’m more interested in food suppliers that focus on food safety.

Food safety ultimately producers responsibility

The ultimate responsibility for food safety lies with producers and not auditors, inspectors or government agencies, according to Doug Powell from Kansas State University.

In a paper published in Food Control, Doug Powell et al. critiqued the limits food safety audits and inspections and provided recommendations for strengthening the system.

In the “Audits and inspections are never enough: A critique to enhance food safety” paper, they noted there have been many foodborne illness outbreaks linked to food processors that have passed third-party audits and inspections, raising questions about the utility of both.  

They identified audit reports as useful if the purchaser who requires them reviews the results, understands the risks addressed by the standards and makes risk-reduction decisions based on the results.

“From past examples, there appears to be a disconnect between what auditors provide (a snapshot) and what buyers believe they are doing (a full verification of product and process).”

Powell, a professor of food safety at Kansas State University, told FoodProductionDaily.com that everyone talks a good food safety game but it is the companies who are ultimately responsible for ensuring food is safe.

“Any inspection is only a snapshot but it can still provide valuable information.

“Take restaurant inspections, they are made public and are subject to public accountability but that doesn’t happen in food processing plants.”

Powell added that the industry needs to get ahead of and stop reacting to food safety
concerns.

“Outbreaks culminate in a bunch of mistakes, they are not a random act of god.

“With most food we can’t be sure if it is luck or if firms are doing the right things but they label if it is healthy, organic, sustainable so why not, here’s what we do to ensure food safety.”

“Audits and inspections are not enough, when there is an outbreak the public response is huge and it gets them thinking about it.”

When asked if a lack of resources was the problem, he said: “Economics always play a role with low margins and needing to maximise turnover but you are only as good as your frontline employees.

“USDA and FDA are doing all they can with their resources, the onus is on food producers who make the food, as an outbreak can take you down.”

The use of audits to help create, improve, and maintain a genuine food safety culture holds the most promise in preventing foodborne illness and safeguarding public health.

They concluded: “A common thread in all of the outbreaks described is a clear lack of food safety culture among the implicated companies. Companies who blame the auditor or inspector for outbreaks of foodborne illness should also blame themselves.” 

Indian state eyes Dubai model to ensure food safety

My friend Bobby Krishna (right, pretty much as shown), senior food studies officer in the food control department of Dubai Municipality, is making inroads in india.

The Hindu reports the Kerala State Food Safety wing is looking to the Dubai Municipality food control department to help it develop food safety manuals and food inspection checklists so that the food safety initiatives here can be made more scientific and standardized.

A formal collaboration with the Dubai municipality for initiatives in improving food safety is also being contemplated, said Biju Prabhakar, commissioner of food safety, adding, “We thought of seeking the assistance of Dubai Municipality Food Control Department because even though their food safety initiative is fairly nascent, it is fully backed by science, is well-streamlined and has found considerable acceptance in the food industry too.”

Krishna told The Hindu here on Saturday that food safety was a global concern and had to be approached in a larger perspective, as a crucial component of public health, and a vital element of economy, especially with Kerala exploring its tourism potential in a big way.

“Just as it happened in Kerala, in Dubai too, the food safety drive gained momentum in 2009 following the death of two young children, reportedly due to food poisoning. It gave us the impetus to drive hard — the licensing process, grading of food businesses, hygiene and safety standards, classification of food items, and the shelf life of each… everything was fully backed by evidence. We also invested quite a lot on educating those in the business about the basics of food safety, like hygienic food handling and preventing cross-contamination etc,” Mr. Krishna said.

The first step in having a streamlined food safety management system is in getting everyone in the food business to take licences/registrations. There has to be a grading system for hotels/ eateries so that each works within its scope.

“You need to develop a good food safety team, which includes food safety experts, risk assessors, including biochemistry and microbiology experts, epidemiologists, all backed with international food safety resources. Food inspectors have to undergo rigorous training and follow standard procedure,” he said.

As for street vendors, he suggested that the government create ‘safe zones’ in various parts of the city where all safe processes and infrastructure for producing safe food could be provided by the government. Vendors could be given subsidy for utilising these resources.

The recent initiative of the Dubai municipality, called the Person-in-Charge (PIC) programme — an initiative that Kerala could emulate — was expected to make Dubai attain world-class standards in food safety.