Food safety
inadequate cleaning and disinfection. The paper concluded that a well-designed environmental sampling and testing programme was the most effective strategy to identify contamination sources and detect potentially persistent hazards. However, “Once persistence is suspected in a plant, a ‘seek and destroy’ approach is frequently recommended, including intensified monitoring, the introduction of control measures and the continuation of the intensified monitoring,” it adds.
That means interventions being properly validated, correctly applied and verified under industrial conditions. According to Dr James Cooper, deputy director of food policy at the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA), most people who experience salmonella infection will have food poisoning symptoms for several days but can be treated at home. “However, young children, older people, and those with weakened immune systems have a greater risk of becoming severely ill and may require admission to hospital for further treatment.
It all comes down to managing your 4Cs Most forms of food poisoning, Cooper says, can be reduced by following the 4Cs of food hygiene: “Chilling, cleaning, cooking and avoiding cross-contamination; and by following good hygiene practices in general.” It is worth noting though that in the food manufacturing and processing space, high-resolution typing of food-borne bacteria has improved in recent years when it comes to the detection of clusters and outbreaks of salmonella, according to Cooper. For example, The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Public Health Wales (PHW), Public Health Scotland (PHS) and Public Health Agency Northern Ireland (PHA), routinely subject all salmonella isolates to whole genome sequencing, which has enabled rapid identification and detection of possible food-borne outbreaks, as well as enabling quicker responses by the relevant public health and regulatory authorities. Worth pointing out, however, is that while the UKHSA, PHW, PHS and PHA are the lead agencies responsible for the protection of public health in the four nations, they do not have direct statutory powers to enforce legislation in relation to food safety – their remits simply being the surveillance of infectious gastrointestinal disease, including disease caused by pathogens, that pose a food safety risk in the UK. The FSA, Cooper explains, is responsible for food safety and food hygiene in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while Food Standards Scotland (FSS) carries out this responsibility north of the border. “We work with local authorities to enforce food safety regulations, and staff work in meat plants to check the standards are being met. Examples of risk mitigation actions taken by the FSA may include
Ingredients Insight /
www.ingredients-insight.com
applying a number of controls in the slaughterhouse and cutting plant to ensure risks to consumers are minimised,” says Cooper.
“The FSA has undertaken a series of large cohort studies to estimate the overall levels in the community. Most cases of salmonella go unreported, as many people who get ill don’t seek medical treatment. Even for those who do, they may not be tested,” he adds. Of concern is that much of the data in this area is out of date. The last of these studies were published in November 2012 and the next isn’t due to be completed until 2027, he explains. “Current estimates for food- borne salmonella in the UK are 31,600 cases per year (95% credible intervals 6,800 to 147,000).”
The after-effects of Covid-19 Muddying the waters, however, has been a significant increase in the number of salmonella-related infections in the UK and elsewhere in the past year. This in part reflects distortions caused by case under-reporting during the pandemic years.
Indeed, the UK Health Security Agency’s report ‘Non-typhoidal salmonella data 2013 to 2022’ stated that during 2020 and 2021 it’s likely that the emergence of Covid-19 and subsequent non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) implemented to control Covid-19 transmission, affected notifications of salmonella infections to national surveillance in several ways. These included, but were not limited to, changes that may have impacted ascertainment (for example, changes in healthcare-seeking behaviour, access to healthcare, availability or capacity of testing and so on). Similarly, enforced lifestyle changes such as limited foreign travel, and closure of hospitality venues and attractions will have had an impact regarding behavioural changes around food consumption. Indeed, the hospitality industry in particular was largely shut down for certain periods of time and even now faces challenges in terms of recruiting and
95
Many consumers associate salmonella with eggs.
raymond orton/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110
