Food Safety Assessment of Interventions IEH (Dr Mohammad Koohmaraje)

Summary

In May 2013, Dr Mohammad Koohmaraie, CEO of the meat division at IEH laboratories & Consulting Group Analytical Services in the United States of America, visited four (4) Teys Australia processing plants.
The objective of the visit was to assess the performance of current food safety practices and identify potentially viable interventions that may be suitable for investigation and implementation across Teys Australia operations.
An evaluation as to why spray chilling cycles can cause shelf life problems and outline of potential solutions to this problem
It was determined that there were multiple factors that potentially lead to why spray chilling cycles may have negative effects on shelf life. These consist of:
high load of bacteria on carcasses going into the chillerspoor chilling caused by inadequate carcass spacing; andspraying with water greater than 5ºC.
One or a combination of the above is responsible for issues related to shelf life. Proper spray chilling of low microbial loads, will not have a negative on shelf-life.
The design of an accelerated shelf life trial
The evaluation of the issues related with shelf life and the potential causes of the shelf life issues have shown that a design of an accelerated shelf trial is not necessary at this stage.
Identification of what type of interventions are suitable on four types of slaughter floors and where to place these interventions to achieve an effective outcome
Dr Koohmaraie identified potential food safety interventions that may be suitable for trialling at Teys plants, and include:
Trialling hot water wash cabinet after hot carcass scaleHygienic plant design and relocation of functions have potential to reduce contamination. This includes moving functions to either before or after interventions such as trimming and steam vacuum.Trial of chemical interventions – varying chemicals to achieve desired results depending on destination markets regulations. These chemicals include:
Lactic acid
Chlorine Dioxide,
Beefxide and
Twin OxideTrial post chilling interventions such as mist or sprays, chemical cabinet wash, including even after the trimmers.Spray chill with cold water (must be less than 5ºC)Trial modifications to to current chemical wash cabinets, with particular attention on increasing nozzle numbers, pH variation trials.Minimise where possible the spraying of cattle with non potable water. If it is possible, treat recycled water (ozonate or other method such as Ultra Violate treatment) prior to cattle washing.Best dressing practices and all that it entails; hide on or pattern line intervention, employee training and education is key in this area.

Identifying where water can be used more efficiently on the cleaning shifts and suggest potential improvements to the cleaning process
An audit of the sanitation process has identified major opportunities for economising on the water usage. The current system relies primarily on water pressure and water temperature to wash down the meat/fat/blood, with minor contribution of chemicals in the process. Based on the initial assessment, it is believed that there is a need to design and conduct a study to review, design and implement new SOP's for each step of the process, based on:
1. Identifying the nature of residues to be removed in each module of the process, and divide the
modules accordingly.
2. To take into consideration the operational temperature of each module and the chemistry of the residues to be removed and microbiological issues.
3. To identify the proper chemicals to be used at each step of the process based on the temperature the chemistry of the residues, and biological hazards.
4. To review the SOP, and revise based on the proper sequencing of steps and replacing water pressure with the proper application of detergents/sanitation chemicals using automatic brushes, scrubbers and hand application when appropriate.
5. Use of water only for rinsing, at reduced pressure.
6. Comparison of the new protocols to the old based on water usage, microbiological quality of surfaces, and increased/decreased labor cost.