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Integration in Food Production - Food Safety Magazine 1 PDF
Integration in Food Production - Food Safety Magazine 1 PDF
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However, this trend also decreases public acceptance for such occurrences to a level that
approaches “zero tolerance.” Any incidence of foreign material harms the consumer,
undermines confidence in the brand and generates headlines. The name of the producer
and the grocery chain that sold the article are widely reported.
A physical hazard in food is any extraneous object or foreign matter that may cause
illness or injury to the consumer.
Consumers do not expect hard or sharp components in foods where kernels are normally
removed, such as cherries or pitted olives. Hard or sharp pit fragments are unexpected
and may cause serious harm if ingested.
FDA considers a product adulterated if it contains a hard or sharp foreign object that
measures 7 mm to 25 mm in length, and is ready-to-eat or requires only minimal
preparation steps that would not eliminate, invalidate or neutralize the hazard prior to
consumption.[1]
Foreign objects smaller than 7 mm rarely cause trauma or serious injury except in special
high-risk groups, such as infants, surgery patients and the elderly.[2]
Glass is the most frequently reported foreign material in food to cause illness or injury.
In 1995, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service
concluded that bone particles less than 1 cm are not a safety hazard; particles 1–2 cm are
low risk; and particles greater than 2 cm have the potential to be a safety hazard and may
cause injury.[3]
Foreign material other than bone may pose a potential hazard, and each instance should
be considered on a case-by-case basis, irrespective of size.
Section 402(a)(3) of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act prohibits the distribution of foods
that may contain repulsive matter, considered as filth, such as insects. Most consumers
find the presence of any visible filth contaminant, such as hair in a food product,
nauseating.[4]
Canadian Regulations
Canadian regulations support the FDA concept based on the 7 mm to 25 mm size
criterion.[5] These limits are not followed by Europe in its regulations on the hygiene of
foodstuffs.
Hard or sharp foreign objects in foods may cause injury, including lacerations of the
mouth, throat, stomach and intestine. Safety concepts, such as HACCP, are being
introduced globally. They must cover all stages of the production process, from primary
production to retail sales.
Glass: Sharp glass contamination often occurs during filling processes in glass containers
if a container is accidentally broken. Another source, but less frequent, is light bulbs
broken during building maintenance.
Metal: Sharp metal objects may include screws and equipment splinters, blades, broken
veterinary needles, fragments and clippings of prior processing procedures.
Plastics: Soft and hard plastics may come from packaging material of an intermediary
production phase.
Wood: Wood splinters may have their origin at the farm or may come from handling
wooden pallets.
Stones: Small stones are common in crops like peas or beans contaminated during
harvest.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency rates the likelihood of occurrence of physical
hazards based on the level of control a food processor can exercise to eliminate the
risk:[5, 10]
Low risk: If good control measures have been established, but minor infractions occur.
Medium risk: If some control measures were established, but inconsistencies occur.
High risk: If little or no control was established, major and critical infractions occur.
Foreign material may occur naturally in raw materials and food ingredients, such as
stones in lentils or bones in fish or meat.
The food categories, in decreasing order of complaint frequency, are pastries, soft drinks,
vegetables, infant foods, fruits, cereals, fish, chocolate and cocoa products.[11]
Of 10,564 cases of foreign object injuries in children included in the Susy Safe Project
Registry, 26 percent were due to a food item, resulting in complications and prolonged
hospitalization. Bones were the most commonly retrieved food foreign object, while nuts
were most frequently associated with complications. The critical group ranging from 2 to
3 years of age requires special food surveillance.[12]
Specific characteristics of foreign bodies associated with increased hazard, such as size,
shape, hardness, pliability and elasticity, must be better defined to identify risky foods
for children up to 4 years of age. Nuts and seeds are one of the most common food items
leading to injuries in children. Control of the hazard level of various foods should be
improved, and warning labels on high-risk foods are suggested.[13]
Most upper gastrointestinal foreign objects are related to food ingestion, and meat
products are most often found to be the origin of such events.[15]
The removal of sharp foreign objects from the esophagus can be dangerous and
challenging. Hyun et al.[16] describe proper apparatus and appropriate techniques that
The types of foreign-object swallowing incidences in children include coins (57%), button
batteries (22%), sharp objects (12%), chicken bones (2.3%) and others (6.7%).[17]
• Provision of good storage facilities, usage of lamp covers to avoid bulb breakage and
maintenance of effective pest control
• Effective detection and elimination systems for physical hazards, such as metal
detectors or magnets to remove metal particles; use of X-ray and low-power microwave
systems to detect nonmetallic materials
• Periodic training of employees engaged with shipping, receiving, storing, handling and
equipment maintenance that encompasses the entire food production chain, including:
Agricultural Production
These include grains, vegetables, big farms and small organic businesses.
Meat Production
Care should be taken at farms, abattoirs and retail; knives, mincers, meat slicers, vacuum
bowl cutters and broken injection needles must be scanned.
Transportation
Special care is needed for bulk transportation; recovery after road accidents should be
observed.
The daily maintenance of transport belts must be assured (Figure 1). Well-sanitized
machines that look very good may bear many hazards of foreign bodies in food, like
broken parts of defective systems. Audits should concentrate on these problems and daily
inspections of peeling machines and vegetable slicers.
Grocery Chains
Personnel should be trained to be attentive to prevent packaging adulteration or criminal
attempts of extortion.
Hospitality
Restaurants, hotels and fast food chains should consider introducing GMPs and HACCP.
Metal detectors: Metal detectors find splinters from machinery, fractions of broken
cutters and blades, needles, screws or fragments of clips.
X-ray detectors: These respond to metal, stone, bone, hard plastics and Teflon. Both
systems can screen the product after the filling procedure. X-ray detectors may find glass
pieces that result when a jar or bottle is crushed during malfunction of the packaging
line.
FRS must be installed within the pipe system, before packaging. Any deviation at the
filling station is not covered.
Conclusions
Ample technology exists for detection of foreign material in foodstuffs. To ensure food
safety, this technology should be complemented by quality control practices such as
HACCP and GMPs, and by ongoing training of personnel. With proper implementation
in the production line, illness or injury to consumers can be avoided.
Karl Heinz Wilm is a biochemist at the University Belém do Pará, Brazil. He has 32
years of quality management experience in the German food industry.
References
1. www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual
/ucm074554.htm.
2. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10049789.
3. www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/02-033N
/ThePhysicalHazardsofForeignMaterials.pdf.
4. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11029271.
5. www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/foodsafety/processor/cfs02s33.html.
6. www.cbi.eu/?pag=85&doc=1109&typ=mid_document.
7. eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ
/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:139:0001:0054:EN:PDF.
8. eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ
/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:226:0083:0127:EN:PDF.
9. eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ
/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:139:0206:0320:EN:PDF.
10. laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/C.R.C.,_c._870/index.html.
11. foodsafety.unl.edu/haccp/start/physical.html.
12. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22376998.
13. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22365133.
14. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123183/?tool=pubmed.
15. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17131048.
16. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22318080.
17. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17766213.
18. www.foodradar.com/assets/pdf/fruit_processing_0112.pdf.