USDA ERS Publishes Food Safety Costs for Produce Operations Complying to Increased Food Safety Standards (LGMA)

The USDA Economic Research Service released a 64 page report on the costs associated with meeting safety standards established by the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA).  The costs with the LGMA should be similar to what will be required by the FSMA Produce Safety Rule.  This is based upon 7 produce operations and was conducted in 2012.

The paper acknowledged that it is difficult to assess the costs, and thus come up with average cost/farm or cost/acre for compliance.  They were able to determine where those costs went on average:

• food safety staff - 38%
• foremen food safety time - 32% 
• audits - 17%
• lost product due to animal intrusion - 11%
• water testing - 2%
• Other costs not uniformly collected included harvest worker training, glove use, raw product testing, and external record keeping management systems.

Estimated costs for foreman (based upon time allocation) ranged from 80,000 to 1,012,000 million.

Firms averaged

Table 3

Range of costs per firm for different food safety practices

                                                                        Range of costs ($) Number of observations  

                                                                        Low                High

Cost per firm:

Total field-level audits                                   27,150            305,430                 6

Raw product testing                                                0              90,000                 6

External record keeping                                          0                8,868                 7

Training                                                          19,900              71,398                 4

Protective clothing                                         12,000              52,000                  5

Total water testing                                           7,000               85,000                  7

Lost product                                                            0             304,000                 7

Equipment cleaning/sanitizing                       21,000             250,000                 4

Hired toilet/handwashing facilities                45,451              130,367                3 

and services

Note: In reporting individual costs per firm, there is a mix of costs for different-sized operations, and also a mix of costs for leafy greens and the whole produce operation. The  combination of firms reporting data for any cost also varies. As a result, the numbers in table 3 cannot be added together to get a low and a high for all costs. Source: USDA, Economic Research Service.

How solid are these costs?  Good question.  They are based upon interviews...so if you ask someone what they are spending on mandated oversight....there may be a tendency to look at worst case scenario. Plus were there savings from improved practices?...hard to say.  I believe these costs increases are there, especially compared to processing facilities that already have much of the infrastructure in place.

Economic Information Bulletin Number 173
https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/83771/eib-173.pdf?v=42893
Food Safety Practices and Costs Under the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement
Linda Calvin, Helen Jensen, Karen Klonsky, and Roberta Cook
June 2017

Salmonella Outbreak in Canada Associated with Raw Frozen Breaded Chicken

In Canada, there have been 7 cases of Salmonella linked to frozen raw breaded chicken products.

Over the past few years, we have seen Salmonella outbreaks associated with raw breaded chicken (1, 2, 3 ).  In fact, FSIS issued an alert after the the Aspen Foods Salmonella-in-breaded chicken outbreak.   As was pointed out each time, there are a few issues - 1) the product is frozen, so when the consumer begins with frozen product, they may not cook it long enough in order to achieve the proper internal temperature. Along with this, many people do not use a thermometer in order to ensure that temperature is met, and  2) breaded products often look like they are fully cooked. This is because the par-cooking that sets the breading gives it a finished cooked appearance.  

So even though companies may post cooking instructions on the package, there must be controls in place to limit, even to the point of elimination, the risk of Salmonella.  This includes controlling Salmonella in the process environment, preventing growth through tight temperature control, and par-frying it well.

National Post
http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/7-sickened-by-salmonella-related-to-raw-frozen-breaded-chicken-in-4-provinces/wcm/b6d34f2d-8e03-4289-abac-17a8c7e84dc2
7 sickened by salmonella related to raw frozen breaded chicken in 4 provinces

Executives of Egg Company Ordered to Begin Serving Sentences for 2010 Salmonella Outbreak

A father and son, owners of an Iowa egg company, have been mandated to report to prison.  They were found guilty in 2014 to the 2010 Salmonella outbreak associated with eggs where close to 2000 people became infected.  They appealed their sentences, but those were upheld.

According to the news release, business groups had supported the appeal, arguing "that it is unfair to send corporate executives to prison for violations that they were either unaware of or that were committed by subordinates. The groups said it's highly unusual to attach a criminal penalty and prison time to executives when there is no proof of intention or knowledge of wrongdoing."  If you believe that food safety starts at the top, which I do, then it is important the executives should not only be aware, but also support food safety.

WRCBTV / Associated Press
http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/35760192/egg-executives-in-salmonella-case-must-report-to-pris
Egg executives in salmonella case must report to prison

Posted: Jun 27, 2017 12:53 PM EDT
Updated: Jun 27, 2017 1:13 PM

Chicken Tenders Recalled After Complaints of Bone Fragments

A California company is recalling over 50,000 lbs of chicken bites because the firm received consumer complaints involving foreign objects in the form of bone.  There have been no injuries.

The primary target market for this product is children.



USDA Recall Notice
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2017/recall-078-2017-release
Overhill Farms, Inc. Recalls Chicken Products Due To Possible Foreign Matter Contamination
Class I Recall 078-2017
Health Risk: High
Jun 24, 2017

US Stops Imported Beef from Brazil for Food Safety Concerns

The US has stopped all importation of fresh beef from Brazil for food safety concerns.  Brazil is the fifth largest exporter of beef to the US.  Since an investigation into the Brazilian meat industry in March, the US has been inspecting all meat products from that country, refusing 11% of those shipments due to "public health concerns, sanitary conditions, and animal health issues."

USA Today
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/06/23/us-bans-beef-imports-brazil-due-food-safety-concerns/422865001/
US bans Brazil beef imports over food safety concerns
Roger Yu , USA TODAY

Published 8:39 a.m. ET June 23, 2017 | Updated 0 minutes ago

Drain Decontamination Using Chlorine Dioxide Pods

Our good friend Dr. Mark Berrang shared his recent research on decontaminating floor drains with chlorine dioxide pods.  This may be useful for many facilities beyond the poultry processing facilities where the research was conducted, especially those facilities that have problems with drain backups. This method was able to achieve a 8.7 log reduction in the drain water and 6.7 log reduction of cells attached to drain piping.

Contact me if you want a copy of the paper or the supplier contact used in this research. (we of course, are not endorsing any one supplier).


JAPR Research Report

Self-contained chlorine dioxide generation and delivery pods for decontamination of floor drains

NY Nut and Fruit Processor Source of Listeria Related Recalls

Over the past several days, many of the listeria - nut/dried fruit recalls have been linked to a company called HVF, Inc. AKA - Hudson Valley Farms. This includes the recent hummus recall due to pine nuts from HVF as well as other recalls such as protein bars from GoMarco, granola products from New England Bakers, and Protein Bars and Bits from Bulletproof 360. It is hard to tell what the ultimate source of these recalls, but clearly HVF is a major link, if not the primary source.

Here again is what appears to be an ingredient supply issue that triggers recalls among a number of further processing facilities.  In this case, the ingredient was produced by a very small processing facility - what kind of supplier controls were in place?  How legitimate is this supplier?

One concern was that the supplier information was not readily available online.  No website was present - was it there and taken down, or was there never one to start?  Wouldn't it be better to have a supplier who is there when there is an issue and to state the nature of the issue on their website?

It was difficult to tell the scope of the operation. According to a story in the Miami Herald, HVF is a company of 10 people or less. Looking further, it appears to be part of a larger group with the parent appearing to be a company called Bedemco, an importer of nut and fruit products.  HVF may just be a packing facility for this family run company.

Hummus Product Recalled For Potential Listeria in Pinenut Topping

 A TN company, House of Taller, is recalling hummus product with pine nut toppings after the pine nut topping after they were notified by the pine nut supplier that Listeria may be present on that ingredient.   The supplier is HVF (Hudson Valley Farms) /Bedemco.

Recalled House of Taller product is under the Marketside label which is sold at Walmart, the Fresh Foods Market Artisan brand and Latana brand. (What qualifies something as artisan? Nothing really, just our next overused marketing label.)
 
FDA Recall Notice
https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm563822.htm
House of Thaller Recalls Selected Pine Nut Hummus Products Because of Possible Health Risk
For Immediate Release
June 19, 2017

CDC Report - National Botulism Surveillance Summary 2015

CDC released the summary of botulism cases for 2015.  Botulism is the disease caused by the toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum.  The toxin is a neurotoxin that stops neurotransmission resulting in paralysis, or loss in muscle function.  Botulism poisoning can result in death if not treated.  In most cases, it will result in hospitalization with the patient on a breathing apparatus due to loss in the ability to breath (paralysis of diaphragm).

The type we are most familiar is foodborne botulism where the organism grows in the food producing toxin.  But there is also infant botulism where the organism becomes part of the intestinal microflora of an infant.  A similar issue can happen in adults when their intestine is subject to colonization due to illness associated with antibiotic administration and decline of normal intestinal microflora.  Wound botulism occurs when the organism gets into a would and begins to grow.

The largest amount of cases reported in 2015 were infant botulism (141).  No deaths were reported.

There were 39 confirmed cases of foodborne botulism.  The one outbreak occurred when improperly canned potatoes were used to make potato salad at a church potluck dinner.  This resulted in 27 cases.
Another outbreak was associated with fermented seal flipper (4 cases), and then another was associated with beets roasted in aluminum foil and kept at room temperature for several days then made into a soup (2 cases).

National Botulism Surveillance Summary 2015
An overview of national botulism surveillance is available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncezid/dfwed/PDFs/bot-overview_508c.pdf