High pressure processing (HPP) has seen a huge surge in recent years as processors look to clean up their labels and boost the quality of their products. A 2016 study published in the journal Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia found that HPP destroys microorganisms without breaking covalent bonds, which is why it can pasteurize products […]

About two years ago for this blog, I interviewed Darin Zehr, the general manager of Commercial Food Sanitation (an Intralox company) about the state of industry knowledge surrounding food safety and hygienic design. As a company that provides consulting services and training programs in sanitation, hygienic design, and environmental controls, Commercial Food Sanitation has the inside scoop on […]

Although pathogens get more press, foreign materials continue to plague the food industry. They are the largest source of consumer complaints, and thus a top reason for recalls. In 2017, over 9 million pounds of food products were recalled because of extraneous material, which was more than the amount recalled for any other reason. And […]

The program at last month’s FPSA Annual Conference included a Food Safety and Sanitary Design Panel Discussion sponsored by Food Safety Summit and National Provisioner. One of the topics before the panel was FDA inspections and genomic sequencing. This article provides a brief review of the discussion. “Swab-a-thons”: What happens when FDA inspectors visit If […]

Food processors must balance many priorities. Unfortunately, those priorities often compete. For example, most processors put maximizing productivity and uptime at the top of the list. At the same time, operations like cleaning and sanitation require systems to be shut down. Proper cleaning and sanitizing are vital for ensuring food safety and preventing recalls. However, […]

With the constant population growth, the food processing industry is always striving to respond to increase in demand, for both quality and quantity. Customers are pushing for fresher, healthier products, while hygiene and sanitation need to meet the highest standards. Regulatory agencies are requiring more stringent food safety measures, for example, through the Food Safety […]

Light based technologies started to emerge in food processing practices due to their broad antimicrobial action, low cost and non-thermal purely physical nature. The techniques such as continuous UV-C at 254 nm, pulsed light (from 170 to 1000 nm) and pulsed UV (from 200 to 400nm), and recently light emitting diodes (LEDs, in the range […]

A technical guidance, published by GMA, identifies the seven main control measures for the control of Salmonella in low moisture foods.  One key control measure includes minimization of cross-contamination, which can occur during processing or post-processing.  Proper cleaning and sanitation is vital to ensure uncontaminated low moisture foods do not become contaminated post-lethality.  When dealing […]

Plant derived polyphenolic compounds are well known for their bioactivities such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action in the human system, which would have important implications in health maintenance and chronic disease risk reduction.  The health outcome of the polyphenolic compounds are related to the amounts, the specific chemical structures present in the plants, and bioavailability/bioactivity […]

How does it preserve fruits & vegetables?  Consumer interests in healthier and fresher foods have driven much of the interest in ‘advanced’ preservation methods, such as pulsed electric field (PEF) processing, which are safe but at the same time capable of imparting fresh-like characteristics to processed food. Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatments of less than […]