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WOODTV reports that n the cold room at Forest Hills Foods, workers prepare fruit trays, ever mindful of customer concerns over the recent outbreak of food-borne problems such as E. coli and salmonella.
"It’s cold during the preparation process. And it’s cold when it gets on our shelves. So the product never has a
Keith Warriner from the University of Guelph commenting on recent recalls and questioning where Canidian’s food comes from:
Part of the problem is the fact that Canada gets as much as 80 per cent of its produce from California, where health officials have warned growers three times in the last three years about their growing
Will you ever feel comfortable eating fresh spinach again? All raw agricultural products carry a minimal risk of contamination, said a University of Illinois scientist whose research focuses on keeping foodborne pathogens, including the strain of E. coli found recently on spinach, out of the food supply.
That won’t keep Scott Martin, a U of I food science and human nutrition professor, from eating bagged greens or other produce although he can see why it gives consumers pause. "I definitely wouldn’t eat spinach from the three California counties implicated in this latest outbreak of E. coli H0157:H7, but there have been no problems with spinach grown in other parts of the country," Martin said.
Martin said that food companies have recalled the particular products implicated in the outbreak, and that the contaminated spinach had a sell-by date of September 20, so none should remain on the shelves at this time. If his reassuring tone makes the scientist sound less than aggressive toward E. coli 0157:H7 and other foodborne pathogens, you’re mistaken. Martin and fellow U of I professor Hao Feng are dedicated to discovering ways to keep these microorganisms out of the food supply.
Martin’s research is focused on finding ways to eliminate the biofilms that attach to produce and cause illness. "Once the pathogenic organism gets on the product, no amount of washing will remove it. The microbes attach to the surface of produce in a sticky biofilm, and washing just isn’t very effective," he said.Continue Reading US: foodborne pathogens hard to remove from produce, research is ongoing
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Thana Dharmarajah of The Guelph Mercury reports that scrubbing lettuce won’t get rid of the pathogens hiding in the edges of the leaves or the pores of the vegetable, according to a University of Guelph food microbiologist.
Leafy vegetables such as spinach and cabbage, which tend to be eaten raw, have a higher risk of contamination, said Keith Warriner.
The vegetables can be exposed to contamination in the field through irrigation if the water source is contaminated with sewage, he said.Continue Reading Coming clean on washing vegetables: U of G food scientist, graduate student, have found an effective way to clean your produce
The Monterey County Herald reports that the Food and Drug Administration has issued its first set of safety guidelines for the way fresh-cut produce companies process bagged salad, apple slices and cut celery sticks.
The release of the guidelines follows a scathing November letter in which the FDA urged fresh-cut producers to do more to protect consumers from food-borne illness outbreaks. Eight outbreaks have been traced to Salinas Valley lettuce and spinach in the past decade, according to the FDA.Continue Reading FDA issues guidelines for fresh-cut produce
The Associated Press reports that fruit and vegetable growers are tracking products and training workers to ensure their fresh green beans, tomatoes and peaches are safe to eat, driven by demands from the grocery chains they supply and shoppers at their markets.
Big retailers such as Wal-Mart are encouraging growers to embrace new technology that allows them to more closely track produce with bar codes and scanners. Growers are using bilingual videos and posters to train seasonal workers on proper hygiene. Some small farms are treating the water they use to scrub veggies.Continue Reading Farm Food Safety Becoming a Growing Issue
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Jane Zhang of the Wall Street Journal reports that More Americans are eating their vegetables. But the healthy trend comes with a risk: Illnesses traced to fresh produce are on the rise.
Fruit and vegetables are now responsible for more large-scale outbreaks of food-borne illnesses than meat, poultry or eggs. Overall, produce accounts for 12 percent of food-borne illnesses and 6 percent of the outbreaks, up from 1 percent of the illnesses and 0.7 percent of outbreaks in the 1970s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Continue Reading Unwashed produce can make you sick
Macleans reports that contrary to popular belief, vegetables and fruit — not chicken and eggs — are the top causes of large salmonella outbreaks, according to a U.S. study. And produce-related outbreaks tend to be larger than poultry-related outbreaks and sicken more people.
The analysis by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) in Washington, D.C., showed that contaminated tomatoes, sprouts and other produce made 28,315 Americans sick during 554 outbreaks from 1990 to 2003. On the other hand, chicken made 14,729 people sick in 476 outbreaks and eggs were responsible for 10,847 illnesses from 329 outbreaks.Continue Reading Veggies and fruit are top food poisoning culprits
GI Smith of the Zanesville Times Recorder says when it came time to replace some of his farming equipment two years ago, local grower Mike Siegrist decided to buy something that would ensure his produce reflected his high standard of quality and the agriculture industry’s growing concern with food safety.
The equipment included a washing mechanism that would help clean harvested produce before it was sold at Siegrist Farm Market, which he co-owns and manages.
“We wash all our produce on our grater/washer before it’s sold,” he said.
He farms a 35-acre fruit orchard north of Dresden. The market is open from mid-June through November.Continue Reading Local growers handle their own produce safety
John Seewer of PennLive.com reports that big retailers such as Wal-Mart are encouraging growers to embrace new technology that allows them to more closely track produce with bar codes and scanners. Growers are using bilingual videos and posters to train seasonal workers on proper hygiene. Some small farms are treating the water they use to scrub veggies.
Throughout the food chain there’s more attention to food safety within the last five years because there’s more worry about how an outbreak of illness could cost growers and wholesale buyers millions of dollars.Continue Reading From field to fork, farm food safety a growing issue