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Protecting ready-to-eat foods 
Preventing microbial contamination of ready-to-eat foods is a major preoccupation for companies involved in their production. Understanding and ranking the routes of contamination enables time, effort and cost to be targeted most effectively - improving safety assurance and shelf-life, reducing out-of-specification product and recalls, and cutting costs. A recently completed project has generated a system, data and information to help companies achieve this. Using three factory-based examples - ham, pasta and bagged salad - we assessed the potential for microbial contamination from people (hands), air, food contact surfaces (e.g. utensils, chopping boards, gloves) and liquids (e.g. cooling water). Laboratory methods were used to determine the transfer of micro-organisms, including specific pathogens, from surfaces to an agar food model. This made it possible to rank the routes of transfer in order of greatest concern. In the pasta study, for example, contact with surfaces was shown to be the main source of contamination, whilst the risks from air and cooling water were minimal. The system developed can be applied to particular products and the conditions under which they are produced, to help companies better target their efforts on contamination control. Contact: Debra Smith Meat content – analysis versus recipe 
Discrepancies can often arise in comparisons of meat content estimated by analysis with those derived from recipes. We frequently assist companies in trouble-shooting such problems - especially where the analytical results do not reflect the meat content known to have been added at the mixing bowl stage. “The analytical meat content should only be used to confirm that the meat content is of the order expected. The most accurate determination of meat content in a product is that which is added during production. It is therefore essential that a company has good production records” explains Brian McLean, Head of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “Deriving meat content from chemical analysis is often complex. Problems we commonly encounter include poor results from a company's contract laboratory or incorrect use of nitrogen factors. Other complications include apparent added water in the starting material, and fat or protein migration in the product concerned. In addition to getting to the root of these discrepancies, we offer a range of meat authenticity tests including speciation, and proximate analysis of meat products. We can also call upon the expertise of food technologists experienced in meat product development and food law advisers to tackle labelling and declaration issues.” Contact: Brian McLean Hand hygiene – scoping meeting 
Hands and gloved hands rank highly in terms of microbial contamination transfer to ready-to-eat foods. During April we will be holding a scoping meeting, at which interested companies can help shape a club project to address this. We plan to identify the environmental sources of micro-organisms on hands and gloved hands and to investigate their growth, survival and population levels during use. The project will be used to confirm best practice for reducing microbial contamination and produce guidance for its adoption in the design, implementation, control and monitoring of hand hygiene programmes in food production. Contact: Debra Smith New microbial identification service Rapid microbial identification plays a major role in managing food safety and preventing food spoilage. Molecular based techniques such as ribotyping and DNA sequencing are faster and less subjective than conventional approaches, and microbial DNA sequencing is considered to be the gold standard for microbial identification. At CCFRA we have a Microseq“ system from Applied Biosystems which combines the latest advances in sequencing technology with improved analysis software and a validated database of over 1700 bacterial species, as well as yeasts such as Zygosaccharomyces bailii, Debaryomyces hansenii and Candida spp. The system can be used for microbes isolated from food, drink, and environmental or other samples. Suzanne Jordan, of the Microbiology Department, comments “The Microseq“ complements our other microbial identification services. This is an exciting opportunity to utilise a very versatile identification tool which has the capacity to rapidly identify both bacterial and yeast isolates”. Contact: Suzanne Jordan Benefit from new technologies We have long helped companies identify and exploit new technologies. The member-funded ‘New Technologies’ project, which has run since 1990, has been renewed for three years. It monitors and reports to members the latest developments in food processing technology and includes practical evaluations of novel and emerging technologies. The new phase will reflect the growing emphasis on the environment, waste and resource efficiency issues in the industry, through increased emphasis on technologies designed to improve process efficiency, reduce waste and add value to by-product streams. The New Technologies Bulletin, which is free to members, will be distributed electronically to encourage wider accessibility within member companies. We are also keen to involve members in shaping the content – by sending us links to articles or information for potential inclusion, via our new email address. The practical studies will begin with an assessment of pulsed light technology, which employs pulses of extremely high intensity, visible light for the inactivation of micro-organisms on the surfaces of foods and food contact materials. The pulsed light equipment, which will be on site for the next 12 months, is also available for confidential contract trials. Contact: Craig Leadley Successful third party scrutiny Members and other clients have the reassurance that our management systems continue to comply with two internationally recognised standards, as demonstrated by independent audits. In the first, our Business Management System was audited by BSI for compliance with BS EN ISO 9001:2000. This standard provides a recognised framework to develop and improve operational and management systems, to meet customer, regulatory and organisational requirements. 
In the second, our management system was audited by UKAS for compliance with BS EN ISO/IEC 17025:2005, a standard which focuses on the ability to generate technically valid results within a laboratory. This impinges on work within our departments of cereals and milling, chemistry and biochemistry, consumer and sensory sciences, food hygiene, food manufacturing technologies and microbiology. The full schedules are available through our website. During the assessments our new electronic interactive business management system was rigorously scrutinised and has been declared a ‘resounding success’. This was developed by CCFRA's Quality Manager, Amanda Roberts, and our Communications Technology and Design section which is led by Victoria Johns and which is also responsible for our website. Contact: Amanda Roberts Campden Day - 6 June 2007 
Dame Deirdre Hutton, Chair of the Food Standards Agency, will deliver the 29th Annual Campden Lecture on the theme of ‘The Science of Food Regulation’, at our open day for members on 6th June 2007. Dame Deirdre, who is also Vice-Chair of the European Food Safety Authority Management Board, has considerable experience of corporate governance, risk-based regulation and consumer policy, having been Chair of the National Consumer Council for five years. Campden Day is a key event in the food industry calendar, attracting over 400 guests who take the opportunity to acquaint and update themselves of the full breadth of services and research available to them as Members of CCFRA. Contact: Lynette Lewis Upcoming conferences Good manufacturing practice for heat processed flexible packaging is the theme for this conference on 29-30 March. This conference, on 26-27 April 2007, will cover technical developments, the marketplace, fortification and functionality. Contact: Daphne Llewellyn Davies HACCP training for Europe CCFRA has been awarded a second EU contract to deliver a series of nineteen 5-day HACCP workshops across Europe - in Hungary, Portugal, France and the UK. This is part of the European Commission initiative Better Training for Safer Food, aimed at organising a training strategy in the areas of food and feed laws, animal health and welfare rules and plant health rules. It is mainly for public authority staff of EU Member States responsible for controls of food and feed businesses. It will cover the implementation and maintenance of HACCP based controls, as well as the detailed auditing needed to verify implementation of HACCP systems by food and feed business operators. Contact: Robert Gaze Staff news 
Dr Charles Speirs has recently joined CCFRA as Baking Science and Technology Manager, with responsibility for bakery related research and other projects. Charles has a PhD in food hydrocolloids and substantial industrial experience of the product applications of a range of food ingredients including starches, gelling agents, thickeners and proteins. He spent 19 years managing research for Masterfoods – where he acquired an in-depth understanding of the functionality of food ingredients, their impact on food structure and texture, and their application in product development. He also spent 8 years with Governmental and UN agencies, involved in food technology transfer to developing countries, and more recently specialised in starches with Griffith Laboratories. 
Amanda Durow has been awarded a PhD by the University of Bristol for her thesis “Towards the isolation and structural elucidation of victorin C from Cochliobolus victoriae”. Victorin C is a potent toxin produced by the fungus C. victoriae that can devastate oat crops. Amanda is now applying her research skills on projects within the Consumer and Sensory Sciences Department, and is attracted by the inter-disciplinary nature of CCFRA's research through which different perspectives and skills are brought to bear on practical problems. 
Daphne Llewellyn Davies, CCFRA's Training Business Development Manager has been invited to join ABPCO (Association of British Professional Conference Organisers), reflecting her contribution to the production of the growing number of scientific and technical conferences organised by CCFRA at our purpose built conference facilities and off site.
Welcome to New members CCFRA is delighted to welcome the following new members who joined in December 2006:
Contact: Bertrand Emond Please notify the Membership Department of any name or address changes with respect to our mailing list. |
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