Optimising factory cleaning

Factory cleaning is essential but also incurs costs. With the prospect of rising costs the relationship between the forces, chemicals and temperatures applied to surfaces and their inherent costs has been explored. This will help industry appreciate where the greatest costs are incurred and optimise these - for example, through better use of water, cleaning chemicals and energy.

Stainless steel surfaces were coated with a biofilm of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on a purpose built rig to measure water spray pressures and the degree of removal of the micro-organism. The surfaces were cleaned using hot or cold water with various application pressures, with and without cleaning chemical.

Greatest removal was achieved using a detergent followed by a water spray, though this was also the most costly option. Without detergent, hot water was also much more effective than cold water, and less costly than the use of detergent. Interestingly, over the range tested, impact pressure did not significantly affect microbial removal. Increased wash time did significantly increase removal when using cold water, though the longer washes necessary for the greatest effect are unlikely to be practicable.

Are your cooking instructions safe?

Reheating instructions must provide consumers with a product that is microbiologically safe. They should also ensure that the product is of the required sensory and nutritional quality. Development and validation of cooking instructions for both microwave and conventional ovens is a much valued service offered by CCFRA, as Greg Hooper of the Department of Food Manufacturing Technologies explains:

“The quality and safety of heated products doesn't just depend on the effort spent creating them - it also requires the right packaging and heating instructions. Many potentially great products are spoilt by poor packaging shape and materials or inadequately developed reheating instructions. We can test products in an extensive range of calibrated systems including domestic and catering appliances, gas, electric and fan assisted ovens, gas and electric hobs and grills, toasters, and microwave and combination ovens.

We can ensure that all areas of the product receive adequate heat and that none become overheated. We follow procedures documented under ISO 9001 to monitor the time-temperature history of the product using thermocouple or fibre optic temperature measurement data logging. The accuracy of temperature measurements is ensured by use of calibrated systems traceable to UKAS standards.”

Thermal processing expertise

CCFRA's expertise in thermal processing was recognised when Gary Tucker delivered a training course at Norconserv (Norway) in validating thermal processing using time-temperature integrators (TTIs). It included lectures on the underlying principles of thermal processing as well as an experimental workshop in which the procedures for making, using and analysing TTIs were demonstrated. These TTIs were developed through two major DEFRA LINK projects and the techniques have been extensively used within the UK food industry.

Norconserv plans to develop TTIs as one of the process validation methods they can use for the Norwegian fish industry. The interests are in ensuring the safety of chilled ready meals based on fish. This training is the latest collaboration between CCFRA and Norconserv, where there is already a strong partnership in seafish research, led by Craig Leadley.

Differentiation of Bacillus species

High counts of what appear to be Bacillus cereus on raw vegetable samples can be challenging to interpret - especially as this pathogen is easily confused with Bacillus thuringiensis, a biocontrol agent used to control some insect pests. We now offer a test that can discriminate between these two species - using a stain to detect the insecticidal protein crystals specific to B. thuringiensis - to help with the interpretation of high B. cereus counts.

Mycotoxin certification standard

Support for growers in the prevention of mycotoxin production in cereals is available through a mycotoxin certification standard launched by Cert ID Europe at the recent CCFRA mycotoxins conference. It addresses all aspects of what can be done to control Fusarium mycotoxins, and covers legislative requirements, Fusarium risk awareness and mycotoxin testing. It was developed jointly with CCFRA and Bayer CropScience, and in consultation with industry and the UK Food Standards Agency, as well as an extensive survey of farmers. For further information or to download the standard see mycotoxin-certification.eu

Reduced costs through better process control

Better control of recipes and ingredient usage can lead to more consistent product and save costs. For example, if you have large 'give-away' on your weight control, we can help you to reduce this and achieve better average weight controls by using statistical process control (SPC) to help you understand and control the process parameters leading to recipe weight variation.

Utilisation of waste heat from food factories

Food processes use energy, some of which is inevitably lost. A recent project has quantified sources of usable waste process energy from food manufacturing operations and investigated technologies for its recovery and conversion into usable power.

Ten different manufacturing sites were visited to gather information on energy consumed (electricity, gas, oil) and sources of waste process energy, and to characterise the waste heat streams (flow rate, temperature, phase, contamination, accessibility). Whilst recovery from some streams was limited because they were intermittent or contained particles or contaminants that may cause fouling of a heat recovery device, it was established that hot air waste streams generally possessed a recoverable quantity of energy, even when the temperature was relatively low.

Two follow-up research proposals are being developed: one to recover heat at high temperatures and the second more suited to recovering waste process heat at lower temperatures. The latter involves new heat engine designs and should enable food companies to recover energy from air or water streams. We would welcome companies wishing to participate in either project.

Labelling explained

6 December 2007

At the fifth annual CCFRA food labelling seminar a team of external and CCFRA experts, including Michael Wight, Head of the UK FSA's Labelling Division, will explain and discuss the significance of key changes to labelling legislation including:

• EU review of food labelling
• Health and nutrition claims
• Nutrient profiling
• Nutrition labelling (traffic light and GDA schemes)
• Carbon footprint labelling
• Allergen labelling

Cheese microbiology

The survival of two pathogens in unpasteurised cheeses is the focus of a new three-year project funded by the Food Standards Agency and led by CCFRA. The understanding generated will help better assess and assure the safety of cheeses made from raw milk.

It is known that Mycobacterium bovis, which is associated with human disease, can survive in cheeses made from unpasteurised milk, though the actual risk of this is unclear. Another human pathogen VTEC (vero-cytotoxin producing E. coli) has also been associated with raw milk and cheeses made from it - though little is known about how well it can survive in fermented foods such as cheese, where starter cultures and the natural microbial flora might compete with it.

The project will develop and evaluate methods for detecting, isolating and enumerating these organisms from milk and cheeses. It will also assess the survival of the micro-organisms in a range of hard and soft raw cheeses, showing different characteristics likely to affect survival (e.g. pH, salt), throughout the life of the cheeses. It should also enable some predictive work to be done, for determining whether certain characteristics of the cheeses provide greater potential for inhibiting the growth of M. bovis.

The project consortium brings together microbiologists, dairy product experts and cheese manufacturers, including Queens University Belfast, Reaseheath College, Dairy UK and the Northern Ireland Dairy Council. We would be delighted to hear from industrialists interested in joining the project steering group.

Contamination sources revealed

A newly released Guideline from CCFRA will help food producers target finite cleaning resources to achieve maximum benefit in terms of food safety. In the production of ready-to-eat foods, the risk of product contamination during manufacture is minimised by the use of hygienically designed factories and equipment and the adoption of good hygienic and manufacturing practices. However, the question still remains, where should the industry best spend its resources to maximise or improve contamination control?

Ranking of cross-contamination vectors of ready-to-eat foods: a practical approach (Guideline 54) is based on the findings of a CCFRA research project. It aimed to establish a clearer understanding of the risks of exposure of ready-to-eat foods from microbial contamination, by identifying the vectors involved in the transfer of contamination, determining the level of contamination, assessing transfer conditions and quantifying contamination transfer.

Ranking of vectors using this approach shows clear differences between them in terms of microbial contamination transfer and identifies those that present the greatest risk to food, post-decontamination. Correct use of such information can help to reduce out-of-specification product and recalls, increase product safety and reduce costs. It is priced at £60 per copy (members) and £90 per copy (non-members).

Sustainable food packaging

Proceedings from a recent CCFRA conference on Sustainable food packaging: current biodegradable and compostable solutions have been published. After introductory presentations taking stock of terms such as biodegradability, compostibility and sustainable packaging - and what these mean in practice - the conference sessions looked at commercially available sustainable materials, sustainable packaging in use, and environmental and legislative considerations for sustainable food packaging. The proceedings contain presentation abstracts and copies of many of the visual aids used on the day, and is priced at £60 (members) and £90 (non-members).

Welcome to New members

CCFRA is delighted to welcome the following new members who joined in September 2007:

• British Frozen Food Federation – a trade association
• Gloucestershire Food Vision – a regional initiative
• Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie – an Italian veterinary public health institute
• Livesey Brothers – a farm shop and a grower of mushrooms
• National Food Products (Milco) – a UAE manufacturer of a range of food products and packaging
• Phoenix Foods Ltd – a producer of dry mixed foods
• Sunny Delight Beverage Company – a drinks company
• Walmth Ltd – a manufacturer of ethnic food products

Please notify the Membership Department of any name or address changes with respect to our mailing list.