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NOTE: Click on the links in this article to view examples of the type of information held in the FoodlineWeb databases.
Advances in food safety management
Delivering safe and wholesome products to the consumer is the aim of all food producers, from small specialist enterprises to large multinational companies.
In order to achieve this goal considerable attention is paid to all aspects of safety, from microbiological
contamination and/or growth to the presence of physical or chemical contaminants and the control of allergens. The use of HACCP plans backed up by factory
or laboratory based testing, as appropriate, help to achieve the goal of safe food. Ensuring authenticity
of ingredients is also key, although adulteration or mis-description of a product may be limited to fraud,
for example substitution of a premium product with a cheaper one. On occasion a genuine product has been
substituted with non-food substances, with resulting food safety implications as occurred
with melamine in milk in 2008 and the Sudan dye recalls between 2003 and 2005.
Traceability
Leatherhead’s Members-only Food Safety Day on 29 September will focus on food
traceability. A good traceability system can be crucial in both preventing food safety
incidents and in managing problems when they do occur. A variety of systems and
guidelines are in place to aid the traceability of foods and food products. Our Keynote
Speaker, Steve Hessey from Bakkavor Group, will describe some of these and give
examples of how they work in practice.
Identifying potential problems before they occur, so that they can be pre-empted
by appropriate action, would be very beneficial. Phillip Randalls will discuss the tools that
the Food Standards Agency is developing to aid horizon scanning and so identify and
reduce the impact of new and re-emerging risks.
Developments in scientific analysis can often be usefully applied to the food
industry, for example, recent advances in genetic analyses, improvements to analytical
equipment UPLC versus HPLC, increased performance of mass spectrometry and use
of array technology. Illustrating these developments, there will be presentations on the
use of genetic analyses to trace pathogenic or anti-microbial resistance traits in microorganisms
in the food chain whist Dr Simon Kelly of IFR will show how molecular isotope
ratios are used to determine the place of origin of a food. Leatherhead’s Nutrition
Laboratory Manager, Antony Bagshaw, will review aspects of chemical analysis in the
food industry and Dr Peter Wareing, Leatherhead’s Food Safety Advisor, will talk about
the various rapid method tests available for use by industry.
New technologies can be applied to make traceability more accessible, for example,
the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging systems. Niels Peter Baadsgaard
from the Danish Agriculture & Food Council will discuss the ‘PigTracker’ project which
has developed electronic ear tags for the unique identification and tracking of pigs in
the Danish production system. The technology has the potential to be applied to other
species such as cattle and sheep.
Leatherhead Forum Research
Leatherhead expert Dr Angus Knight will discuss the challenges in determining the
conditions required for the inactivation of Noroviruses, a leading cause of gastroenteritis.
As with all pathogens, inactivation procedures will only be effective if they are based
on appropriate scientific information, sometimes not easy to obtain. In addition, I will
outline Leatherhead’s research on allergens and risk assessment. Other results from
current Food Safety Forum projects carried out by Leatherhead Food Research scientists
will be available as poster presentations.
Food Safety Day is free to Members – to see the full programme and to register to
attend, please visit www.leatherheadfood.com/forumdays2010.
We look forward to seeing you on 29 September.
Dr Joanna Topping, Senior Research Scientist, Food Safety Research
To find out more about how Leatherhead’s Food Safety portfolio can help
your company, please visit www.leatherheadfood.com/food-safety or contact
Dr Evangelia Komitopoulou, Head of Food Safety, on T: +44 (0)1372 822222,
E: ekomitopoulou@leatherheadfood.com
ROADSHOWS
Leatherhead will be hosting two free events, the first in Manchester
on 9 September and the second in Amsterdam on 19 October. Open to both
Members and non-members, the days will be themed around the topic of Clean
Labels and provide delegates with key insights into this constantly evolving area of
the food and drink industry.
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