22 food hygiene & safety
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peanut paste were sold as an ingredient to more than UK between February and May 2008 alone. Different
100 companies and made their way in the recipes of over seeds of various origins were found to harbour
1900 branded products. Products recalled include ice Salmonella. Recent outbreaks of food born illness have
cream, biscuits, cakes, candy, snack bars, snack mixes, been traced back to nuts and seeds and have prompted
peanut butter and even pet food. the Food Safety Authority to implement an ongoing
Many are well-known brands manufactured intensive five month sampling programme which ran
by reputable food companies and the financial until March 2009 at retailers throughout the UK.
consequences are colossal.
The peanuts have sickened scores of people and sent eady-to-eat seeds and nuts are not usually
600 to the hospital and may have killed as many as eight cooked but rather eaten as is or used as a
people. raw ingredient. All these high risk products
The detection of salmonella in retail packs of seeds R should go through a thermal process to
or seed mixes has prompted 12 product recalls in the eliminate bacteria. This is particularly critical when
they are used as an ingredient in many
recipes as is the case in the extensive
recall underway in foods containing the
salmonella peanuts.
The California almond industry
recently faced two product recalls in
2001 and 2004 because of salmonella
contamination.
In 2007 the FDA mandated
the pasteurisation of all almonds
commercialised in the USA. The
mandatory treatment of some 120
million kg of raw almonds requires large
investments in pasteurisation lines.
Improving food safety
In a tightly regulated food safety
environment, microbiological standards
are increasingly demanding. New
technologies are needed to manage the
microbiological risk of all foods that may
be naturally contaminated and consumed
raw. Investment in food safety must be
a top concern of managers in the food
industry because of the enormous cost of
product recalls.
In addition to the loss of the product
itself, damage to the brand, loss of
customer confidence and the cost of
litigation can be tremendous. Therefore
a substantial investment in pasteurisation
equipment is more that justified. Food
operators will certainly be looking for
technical solutions such as the NAPASOL
pasteurisation technology to insure
that microbiological risks are properly
managed.
Natural pasteurisation processes such
as the NAPASOL technology successfully
kills micro-organisms without altering the
organoleptic and nutritional qualities of
the products. p
Dr Cameon Ivarsson is Director, NAPASOL
AG, Reinach, Switzerland. www.napasol.com
Circle 22 or ✔ at www.scientistlive.com/efood
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