Tag Archives: Linda Harris

Food Safety Talk 183: Raw Raw Raw Almonds

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Image from PIRO4D at Pixabay

Don and Ben are joined by longtime friend and colleague, podcast downloader (and sometimes listener) Linda Harris. The three nerds talk about other podcasts, Kardashian indices, Erdos numbers, berries, and the long and progressive food safety story of raw almonds. The almond story touches on what should happen when an industry has a major outbreak, how working with extension and research academics can lead to solutions and ripples of managing food safety risks.

You can download Food Safety Talk 183 here or at iTunes.

Show notes so you can follow along at home:

Safety and Salmonella in pistachios

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New International Association for Food Protection president, committee member for my PhD and all-round nice person (who won’t be put in the corner), Linda Harris, leads a new paper reviewing the safety of in-shell pistachios.

pistachiosAfter harvest, pistachios are hulled with mechanical abrasion and then separated in a float tank containing water; the nuts that float (∼15%; floaters) and those that sink (∼85%; sinkers) are dried and stored separately. To determine the prevalence of Salmonella in pistachios, a total of 3,966 samples (1,032 floaters and 2,934 sinkers) were collected within 4 months of the 2010, 2011, and 2012 harvests from storage silos (12 samples from each silo, in most cases) and were stored at 4°C; 100-g subsamples were enriched for the presence of Salmonella.

Twenty-one of the floater samples and 11 of the sinker samples were positive forSalmonella: 2.0% prevalence (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3 to 3.1%) and 0.37% prevalence (95% CI, 0.21 to 0.67%), respectively, for a weighted average prevalence of 0.61%. Levels of Salmonella were determined for positive samples using a most-probable-number (MPN) method with multiple 50-g, three 5.6-g, and three 0.56-g subsamples. Geometric mean levels of Salmonella in floaters and sinkers were 0.66 MPN/100 g (0.14 to 5.3 MPN/100 g) and 0.18 MPN/100 g (0.10 to 0.62 MPN/100 g), respectively. Seven different serovars were identified among the isolates, with nine pulsed-field gel electrophoresis fingerprints; as many as four serovars were isolated from some samples. Salmonella serovars Montevideo (44%), Enteritidis (19%), Senftenberg (16%), Worthington (12%), and Liverpool (9.4%) were most commonly isolated from the initial 100-g samples.

The prevalence and levels of Salmonella in pistachios are within those observed for other tree nuts, but the limited number of serovars isolated suggests a narrow and persistent contamination source.

Prevalence and amounts of Salmonella found on raw California inshell pistachios

Harris, Linda J.1; Lieberman, Vanessa2; Mashiana, Rupinder P.2; Atwill, Edward3; Yang, Mai4; Chandler, Jeffrey C.5; Bisha, Bledar6; Jones, Thomas4

1: Department of Food Science and Technology, Western Center for Food Safety, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA;, Email: ljharris@ucdavis.edu 2: Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA 3: Western Center for Food Safety, Department of Population, Health, and Reproductive Medicine, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA 4: DFA of California, 1855 South Van Ness Avenue, Fresno, California 93721, USA 5: Department of Animal Science, University of Wyoming, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, USA, Department of Agriculture, National Wildlife Research Center, 4101 LaPorte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA 6:Department of Animal Science, University of Wyoming, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, Wyoming 82071, USA

Journal of Food Protection, August 2016, Number 8, Pages 1304-1315, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-16-054

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp/jfp/2016/00000079/00000008/art00001

Facebook increasingly used to sell homemade food

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There’s a new form of entertainment in our house – reading random posts from a closed Facebook page, Wake Forest Community Information. Between crazy requests (‘Is there such a device in case the power goes out, that you can heat your home’ which garnered ‘fire’ an answer) and crowdsourcing medical information (‘Any dentists on here? What is this?’ with a picture of an abscess) are food safety related posts.

Weekly someone posts about getting sick at a local restaurant or getting some physical hazard in their food. And then there are I-make-food-at-home-and-want-to-sell-it posts.facebook-food-art

Facebook as a food sales vehicle is, according to friend of barfblog Linda Harris, not just a North Carolina phenomenon.

In October, KCRA 3 revealed how people were selling lumpia and cheesecakes from homes and street corners. There were even tamales being sold that had been cooked in a garage.

Three months later, there are more users than ever. The “916 Food Spot” group alone has doubled to more than 2,200 members.

They’ve added more entrees to their menus, including ham and cheese dishes.

“It’s like a fast-food restaurant and you go online,” said Linda Harris, at the UC Davis Food Safety Facility.

Harris said many of the offered items don’t fall under the state’s cottage food laws, which allow some nonperishable foods to be sold from home. 

Harris said selling foods on Facebook is a lot different than cooking for your husband and kids.

“When you’re cooking food in your home for your family, that’s one thing,” Harris told KCRA 3. “When you’re taking money in exchange for that food, I believe you have a much higher level of responsibility.”

KCRA 3 brought the Facebook food groups to the attention of the environmental health departments in Sacramento and San Joaquin counties.

San Joaquin County officials have asked their district attorney’s office to help them look into the cases — because they don’t have the staff to do it themselves.

Food inspectors said they still haven’t received a single complaint of a food-borne illness from someone who bought a dish through Facebook.

Baylen Linnekin is an activist who has been pushing to ensure people have freedom to eat the foods they want.

“They are not making a million dollars,” Linnekin said. “It’s not like they are suddenly becoming this baron of underground food in California. They are making a little bit here and a little bit there.”

But Harris said there are legitimate reasons the food safety laws were enacted in the first place.

“Almost every one of our food laws is a response to one or more outbreaks where there was public outcry — actual pushback on the regulators to say, ‘Why aren’t we doing more?'” Harris said.    

 

CAFP Symposium January 22, 2015 at NC State: Linda Harris headlines

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If you will be in the N.C. State University/Raleigh area tomorrow (January 22) come on out to a 2hr afternoon Carolina Association for Food Protection sponsored symposium – with friend of barfblog Linda Harris as the headliner. Event Title: Carolina Association for Food Protection symposium.

Keynote by Dr. Linda Harris (UC Davis): Food Safety Considerations for Nuts Produced in the United StatesIMG_0521

Location: Schaub G40 (driving directions below)

Event Date & Time:

Thursday January 22

2:30-4:30pm

Event Description:

The Carolina Association for Food Protection hosts a symposium highlighting food safety issues for the food safety community and partners. The event includes four speakers:

2:30- 2:45 Matt Moore (PhD candidate, NCSU, FBNS): Use of a Nucleic Acid Aptamer-based Method to Study Thermal Inactivation of Human Norovirus

2:45- 3:00 Chip Manuel (PhD candidate, NCSU, FBNS): Rapid Destruction of Human Norovirus Capsid and Genome Occurs during Exposure to Copper-containing Surfaces

3:00-3:30 Brett Weed (State Liaison, Food and Drug Administration): Careers in food safety regulation

3:30-4:30 Linda Harris  (Cooperative Extension Specialist in Microbial Food Safety, UC Davis; Vice-President IAFP): Food Safety Considerations for Nuts Produced in the United States.

The first two talks are from students who won 1st place awards in the International Association for Food Protection’s (IAFP) 2014 Developing Scientist Competition.

Refreshments and snacks will be provided

Contact:

Ben Chapman
benjamin_chapman@ncsu.edu
919 515 8099

Let me know if you are planning on making it (for parking instructions).

From Durham, Chapel Hill and points west
    • Take I-40 east to Raleigh.
    • Take Exit 289 – Wade Avenue.
    • Continue on this freeway a few miles, pass underneath the beltline (I-440), and go through two stoplights.
    • Turn right at the third stoplight, onto Faircloth Street.
    •  Haircloth turns into Gorman St.
    • Turn left at the second stoplight, Sullivan Drive. 
    • Continue ~ a mile Schaub is on the right hand side.
    • Park off of Sullivan drive in the West Lot or West Deck

From Clayton, Benson and points east
    • Take I-40 West to Raleigh.
    • Take Exit 295 – Gorman Street.
    • Turn right at the foot of the exit onto Gorman Street.
    • Continue a couple of miles and cross Western Boulevard; the campus will be on your right.
    • Turn right at Sullivan Drive. 
    • Continue ~ a mile Schaub is on the right hand side.
    • Park off of Sullivan drive in the West Lot or West Deck

CAFP Symposium January 22, 2015 at NC State: Linda Harris headlines

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If you will be in the N.C. State University/Raleigh area tomorrow (January 22) come on out to a 2hr afternoon Carolina Association for Food Protection sponsored symposium – with friend of barfblog Linda Harris as the headliner. Event Title: Carolina Association for Food Protection symposium.

Keynote by Dr. Linda Harris (UC Davis): Food Safety Considerations for Nuts Produced in the United StatesIMG_0521

Location: Schaub G40 (driving directions below)

Event Date & Time:

Thursday January 22

2:30-4:30pm

Event Description:

The Carolina Association for Food Protection hosts a symposium highlighting food safety issues for the food safety community and partners. The event includes four speakers:

2:30- 2:45 Matt Moore (PhD candidate, NCSU, FBNS): Use of a Nucleic Acid Aptamer-based Method to Study Thermal Inactivation of Human Norovirus

2:45- 3:00 Chip Manuel (PhD candidate, NCSU, FBNS): Rapid Destruction of Human Norovirus Capsid and Genome Occurs during Exposure to Copper-containing Surfaces

3:00-3:30 Brett Weed (State Liaison, Food and Drug Administration): Careers in food safety regulation

3:30-4:30 Linda Harris  (Cooperative Extension Specialist in Microbial Food Safety, UC Davis; Vice-President IAFP): Food Safety Considerations for Nuts Produced in the United States.

The first two talks are from students who won 1st place awards in the International Association for Food Protection’s (IAFP) 2014 Developing Scientist Competition.

Refreshments and snacks will be provided

Contact:

Ben Chapman
benjamin_chapman@ncsu.edu
919 515 8099

Let me know if you are planning on making it (for parking instructions).

From Durham, Chapel Hill and points west
    • Take I-40 east to Raleigh.
    • Take Exit 289 – Wade Avenue.
    • Continue on this freeway a few miles, pass underneath the beltline (I-440), and go through two stoplights.
    • Turn right at the third stoplight, onto Faircloth Street.
    •  Haircloth turns into Gorman St.
    • Turn left at the second stoplight, Sullivan Drive. 
    • Continue ~ a mile Schaub is on the right hand side.
    • Park off of Sullivan drive in the West Lot or West Deck

From Clayton, Benson and points east
    • Take I-40 West to Raleigh.
    • Take Exit 295 – Gorman Street.
    • Turn right at the foot of the exit onto Gorman Street.
    • Continue a couple of miles and cross Western Boulevard; the campus will be on your right.
    • Turn right at Sullivan Drive. 
    • Continue ~ a mile Schaub is on the right hand side.
    • Park off of Sullivan drive in the West Lot or West Deck

Poop and produce

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Irrigation water, hand hygiene, and crap in the soil – the big three of produce safety.

Linda Harris, who was on my PhD committee all those years ago, has spent a lot of time in poop since then, the pretty California kind.

And she’s the lede author on a paper to formalize how to study poop, and linda.harris.storywhether it presents a produce risk.

A Framework for developing research protocols for evaluation of microbial hazards and controls during production that pertain to the application of untreated soil amendments of animal origin on land used to grow produce that may be consumed raw.

Journal of Food Protection, Number 6, June 2013, pp. 928-1108 , pp. 1062-1084(23)

Authors: Harris, Linda J.; Berry, Elaine D.; Blessington, Tyann; Erickson, Marilyn; Jay-Russell, Michele; Jiang, Xiuping; Killinger, Karen; Michel, Fredrick C.; Millner, Pat; Schneider, Keith; Sharma, Manan; Suslow, Trevor V.; Wang, Luxin; Worobo, Randy W.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp/jfp/2013/00000076/00000006/art00022

Abstract:

Application of manure or soil amendments of animal origin (untreated soil amendments; UTSAs) to agricultural land has been a long-standing practice to maintain or improve soil quality through addition of organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus. Much smaller quantities of these types of UTSAs are applied to land used for food crops than to land used for animal grain and forage. UTSAs can harbor zoonotic enteric pathogens that may survive for extended periods after application. Additional studies are needed to enhance our understanding of preharvest microbial food safety hazards and control measures pertaining to the application of UTSAs especially for land used to grow produce that may be consumed raw. This document is intended to provide an approach to study design and a framework for defining the scope and type of data required. This document also provides a tool for evaluating the strength of existing data and thus can aid the produce industry and regulatory authorities in identifying additional research needs. Ultimately, this framework provides a means by which researchers can increase consistency among and between studies and facilitates direct comparison of hazards and efficacy of controls applied to different regions, conditions, and practices.

Pistachios had tested positive for salmonella for months

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Every time the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issues a public advisory about some food product, the armchair critics pounce.

This time it’s pistachios. On March 30, FDA issued a blanket warning for folks not to eat pistachios or products containing pistachios until further details emerged. The nut industry went … nuts. Perishable Pundit Jim Prevor did his bit about how regulators and others could be sure the contamination went back to the pistachio plant. Several journalists asked me about the economic burden of such a recall, especially since there were no confirmed illnesses. I told CBS Radio that if industry wanted an economically prudent plan, industry should keep Salmonella out of pistachios.

The other aspect is that, given the public and government scrutiny of FDA, there is probably something going on – something is not quite right at the farm or processing plant or wherever – for FDA to issue a blanket warning. FDA just doesn’t have all the details yet.

Here are some details:

Elizabeth Weise of USA Today is reporting this morning that Setton Pistachio, the company that recalled 2 million pounds of pistachios on Monday, had been receiving positive salmonella tests for as long as five months.

David Acheson, FDA associate commissioner, said,

"The question is, ‘Did Setton Farms have an ongoing problem, and what did they do about it?’ "

The FDA believes batches of pistachios that tested positive for salmonella were destroyed, not distributed. Setton Pistachio spokeswoman Fabia D’Arienzo could not confirm that.

Almond Princess Linda Harris, an expert on salmonella in nuts at the University of California-Davis, said,

"If I’m getting a positive (result) and a couple of months later another positive, and then another, I would think the appropriate response would be to say, ‘This is not right. I’ve got to figure this out.’ "

Kraft spokeswoman Susan Davison said Kraft sent an internal food-safety auditing team to Setton Farms’ Terra Bella plant on March 23 and,

"They saw the potential for cross-contamination" between raw and processed pistachios. “For example, often in companies different colored gloves are used for the raw area and the roasted area." However at the Setton plant, the same colored gloves were used in both areas.