Meeting addresses challenges of spinach processing
Meeting addresses challenges of spinach processing
WASHINGTON -- University of Georgia researcher Mike Doyle said that his research is pointing to a new possible culprit in the contamination of fresh- cut produce: the coring knives used to cut and core lettuce in the fields during harvesting.
At the Food Safety & Security Summit held here March 19, Dr. Doyle said that preliminary research is showing that the process of dipping knives into contaminated soil when cutting and coring lettuce heads in the fields may push bacteria into the lettuce. In experiments, researchers inoculated soil with heavy doses of E. coli and cut lettuce sequentially with the same blade and found the bacteria in the lettuce, Dr. Doyle, director of University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety, said at the meeting.
The good news is that so far, his research, funded by grants from Fresh Express, is not demonstrating the theory that Iceberg lettuce internalizes E. coli-tainted soil in its leaves. This led Dr. Doyle to take a closer look at the threat of bacteria invading the lettuce by coring knives.
Will Daniels, vice president of quality, food safety and organic integrity for Earthbound Farm, who also spoke at the meeting, said that his company was "shaken awake" by the 2006 spinach outbreak, completely changing its food- safety system. Despite the company's multiple-hurdle system that incorporates a range of firewalls including raw product testing, Earthbound Farm has "had a positive on the finished product side," he said. The laboratory with which the company is working predicted that the processor would get positives regardless of upstream measures, but Mr. Daniels said that the company's procedures worked to identify and eliminate the product.
All producers need to conduct hazard analyses in the fields, he said, and the company's test-and-hold system for raw and finished products is an extremely important precaution for fresh-cut companies.
In response to a question about irradiation as a possible kill step, Mr. Daniels replied that the process is not allowed in organic production. It is probably 10 years from being ready for leafy greens, but if it holds promise, "we will quickly change that regulation" to allow it. "A lot of our programs would go away if there was a single kill step," he added.
Spinach processing plants received unwanted attention in Congress in early March when Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) released a report criticizing the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for failing to take enforcement actions against facilities cited for repeated problems.
A congressional committee reviewed six years of the inspection reports of 167 facilities producing packaged fresh spinach from January 2001 to February 2007. In nearly half the reports, the spinach plants were cited for "objectionable conditions" such as facility sanitation problems, but none of the problems were referred to FDA enforcement authorities, said the report.
"The investigation reveals, I fear, a system incapable of preventing another outbreak in fresh produce," Rep. Waxman said at a congressional hearing. "Some of this is because of lack of resources and some of it lack of authority of FDA."
In response to the report, FDA said that most of the observations that inspectors make during inspections are routinely corrected during or shortly following the inspection.
The congressional report, FDA & Fresh Spinach Safety, also found that FDA inspectors were denied access to facility records such as food sampling, maintenance records and consumer complaint files, and had no authority to demand these files. FDA inspections were dubbed "poorly targeted" because none of the 199 inspection records reviewed by committee staff contained observations from the spinach fields.
At the Food Safety & Security Summit held here March 19, Dr. Doyle said that preliminary research is showing that the process of dipping knives into contaminated soil when cutting and coring lettuce heads in the fields may push bacteria into the lettuce. In experiments, researchers inoculated soil with heavy doses of E. coli and cut lettuce sequentially with the same blade and found the bacteria in the lettuce, Dr. Doyle, director of University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety, said at the meeting.
The good news is that so far, his research, funded by grants from Fresh Express, is not demonstrating the theory that Iceberg lettuce internalizes E. coli-tainted soil in its leaves. This led Dr. Doyle to take a closer look at the threat of bacteria invading the lettuce by coring knives.
Will Daniels, vice president of quality, food safety and organic integrity for Earthbound Farm, who also spoke at the meeting, said that his company was "shaken awake" by the 2006 spinach outbreak, completely changing its food- safety system. Despite the company's multiple-hurdle system that incorporates a range of firewalls including raw product testing, Earthbound Farm has "had a positive on the finished product side," he said. The laboratory with which the company is working predicted that the processor would get positives regardless of upstream measures, but Mr. Daniels said that the company's procedures worked to identify and eliminate the product.
All producers need to conduct hazard analyses in the fields, he said, and the company's test-and-hold system for raw and finished products is an extremely important precaution for fresh-cut companies.
In response to a question about irradiation as a possible kill step, Mr. Daniels replied that the process is not allowed in organic production. It is probably 10 years from being ready for leafy greens, but if it holds promise, "we will quickly change that regulation" to allow it. "A lot of our programs would go away if there was a single kill step," he added.
Spinach processing plants received unwanted attention in Congress in early March when Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) released a report criticizing the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for failing to take enforcement actions against facilities cited for repeated problems.
A congressional committee reviewed six years of the inspection reports of 167 facilities producing packaged fresh spinach from January 2001 to February 2007. In nearly half the reports, the spinach plants were cited for "objectionable conditions" such as facility sanitation problems, but none of the problems were referred to FDA enforcement authorities, said the report.
"The investigation reveals, I fear, a system incapable of preventing another outbreak in fresh produce," Rep. Waxman said at a congressional hearing. "Some of this is because of lack of resources and some of it lack of authority of FDA."
In response to the report, FDA said that most of the observations that inspectors make during inspections are routinely corrected during or shortly following the inspection.
The congressional report, FDA & Fresh Spinach Safety, also found that FDA inspectors were denied access to facility records such as food sampling, maintenance records and consumer complaint files, and had no authority to demand these files. FDA inspections were dubbed "poorly targeted" because none of the 199 inspection records reviewed by committee staff contained observations from the spinach fields.
