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Apple And Pineapple Slices Among Fruit At Walmart Recalled Due To Listeria Threat
Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that is capable of causing serious and potentially fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, according to the FDA
By Allen Kim, CNN
October 5, 2020
Packages of pre-cut fruit at Walmart are being recalled voluntarily due to a potential listeria contamination.
(CNN)-Packaged fruit sold by Walmart is being recalled due to a potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination
Country Fresh, which packages pre-cut apples, grapes, mangos, pineapples, and cantaloupe for distribution to retailers such as Walmart, voluntary recalled the items after the US Food and Drug Administration discovered Listeria monocytogenes on equipment used in an area where the products are packaged.
What is listeria? Everything you need to know
Listeria monocytogenes is an organism that is capable of causing serious and potentially fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, according to the FDA.
Healthy people may only suffer short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. However, the FDA warns that it can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
The recall affects fresh fruit items that were sent to Walmart stores located in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. The "best if used by" dates fall between October 3 and October 11, 2020, the FDA said.
The FDA says that customers who have any recalled products on the list should not consume the items and should dispose of it immediately.
Country Fresh has not reported any illnesses to date, but the products are being removed from store shelves and inventories immediately, according to the FDA.
Disease-Causing Bacteria Can Grow on Hydroponic Microgreen Mats
Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes are two bacteria that can make you sick when eating contaminated produce. It turns out, some microgreen grow mats might be a breeding ground for these bacteria
Posted on July 2, 2020, by Gina Misra
Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes are two bacteria that can make you sick when eating contaminated produce. It turns out, some microgreen grow mats might be a breeding ground for these bacteria.
You may be like a lot of people and associate foodborne illness with eating improperly cooked meat. Did you know that raw vegetables can also carry foodborne illness? Bacteria and viruses get on produce in a variety of ways: by food handlers, contaminated water, or soil fertilized with untreated manure. Romaine lettuce grown in Arizona made the news in 2018 because of widespread E. coli contamination. Sprouts, another popular health food, have been involved in 74 outbreaks of (mostly) Salmonella since 1973. Turns out these nasty pathogens are not just reserved for chicken and beef! There is no cooking step to kill the bacteria or virus on produce before it goes into your salad. Sometimes washing doesn’t even help, so prevention is key.
Microgreens are a hot new leafy green on the market. A microgreen is the first 2 to 3-inch (5 to 7-cm) tall shoot from a germinating vegetable seed. They are grown indoors in trays or hydroponics systems in soil, soil-substitutes, or without any rooting medium at all. Scientists understand a lot about how bacteria get to leafy greens from soil, but little about contamination in indoor farms. Are indoor farms safer if they don’t use dirt? We wanted to find out.
This is what a typical microgreen hydroponic system looks like. Source: Wikimedia Commons, by Kchittock0511 / CC BY-SA
Microgreen growers do use soil. However, they also use materials such as coco coir (made from coconut husks), Biostrate(TM) mats, plastic, perlite, rice hulls, and hemp in soil-free indoor systems. Our hypothesis was that if soil can transfer bacteria to lettuce, other growing materials can too.
E.coli and Salmonella survived better in hydroponic nutrient solution compared to soil, so we wondered if there would also be differences among soil-free materials. Within the last few years, there have been close to 10 microgreen recalls over diarrhea-causing Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes found during routine testing. So, we decided to compare the survival of these two pathogens among popular soil-free growing materials to see if the bacteria lived longer on any of them.
An example of a Biostrate mat. Source: The author | Creative Commons Share Alike 4.0
We watered multiple samples of coco coir, Biostrate(TM) mats, hemp mats, and peat-based potting mix and contaminated them with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. To imitate microgreen growing conditions, we left them on the lab bench for 10 days. We took samples from the mats on the first day, and then at 24 hours, 3 days, 6 days, and 10 days to measure the growth of bacteria. Each sample was spread onto Petri dishes containing a gel called agar, enriched with nutrients preferred by each species. The idea behind this classic microbiology technique is that if any cells from the samples were viable, they would multiply on the Petri dishes and form colonies. The colonies are easy to see with the naked eye, and each represents one cell from the original sample.
We found out that Biostrate(TM) mats and hemp mats supported the growth of these two pathogens, while coco coir and peat potting mix did not. In fact, on Biostrate(TM) and hemp, Salmonella and Listeria levels increased after 24 hours and then maintained their original levels for 10 days. On peat and coco coir, Listeria began to die off after the third day and was undetectable on coco coir by the 10th day. Salmonella survived better on all the materials, but on the 10th day, there were 10 times fewer colonies on peat and coco coir compared to the two mats.
Both pathogens showed poorer survival on peat and coco coir compared to no media at all. That means there may be some feature of the peat and coco coir that suppresses the growth of these bacteria. Understanding if that is true, and if so, what exactly that feature is will require more experiments.
It is necessary to point out that because this experiment did not involve microgreens, we still don’t know if microgreens grown in Biostrate(TM) and hemp actually do take up greater amounts of bacteria. These tests are underway! However, this preliminary information may be useful to indoor growers. Until we know more, microgreen growers may want to avoid using fibrous mats, perform additional sanitation steps, or do more testing to keep their customers safe.
Posted in Agriculture, Biology, By Science Writers, By Scientists, Food Science, Microbiology, Science NewsTagged agriculture, Biostrate, coco coir, contamination, food safety, food science, growing media, hemp, hydroponics, indoor farming, leafy greens, Listeria, Microgreens, peat, Salmonella
Study Information
Study published on: May 12, 2020
Study author(s): Gina Misra and Kristen E. Gibson
The study was done at: University of Arkansas
The study was funded by: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA NIFA) and University of Arkansas
Raw data availability: Available from the author upon request by email.
Featured image credit: Jenny Nichols WallpaperFlare.com
USA - UNIVERSITY of DELAWARE - VIDEO: Leaping Listeria
UD researchers examine how some bacteria find ways around plant immune defenses
Article by Beth Miller Animation and illustration by Jeffrey C. Chase | Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson
June 25, 2020
UD researchers examine how some bacteria find ways around plant immune defenses
As the world wrestles with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which arose after the virus jumped from an animal species to the human species, University of Delaware researchers are learning about new ways other pathogens are jumping from plants to people.
Opportunistic bacteria — salmonella, listeria and E.coli, for example — often piggyback on raw vegetables, poultry, beef and other foods to gain entry into a human host, causing millions of foodborne illnesses each year.
But University of Delaware researchers Harsh Bais and Kali Kniel and their collaborators now have found that wild strains of salmonella can circumvent a plant’s immune defense system, getting into the leaves of lettuce by opening up the plant’s tiny breathing pores called stomates.
The plant shows no symptoms of this invasion and once inside the plant, the pathogens cannot just be washed off.
Stomates are little kidney-shaped openings on leaves that open and close naturally and are regulated by circadian rhythm. They open to allow the plant to cool off and breathe. They close when they detect threats from drought or plant bacterial pathogens.
Harsh Bais is an associate professor of plant biology in the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Some pathogens can barge into a closed stomate using brute force, Bais said. Fungi can do that, for example. Bacteria don’t have the enzymes needed to do that so they look for openings — in roots or through stomates, he said.
Plant bacterial pathogens have found a way to reopen those closed stomates and gain entry to the plant’s internal workings, Bais said.
But now, in research published by Frontiers in Microbiology, Bais and Kniel have shown that some strains of the human pathogen salmonella have developed a way to reopen closed stomates, too.
“What’s new is how the non-host bacteria are evolving to bypass plant immune response,” Bais said. “They are real opportunists. They are absolutely jumping kingdoms….When we see these unusual interactions, that’s where it starts to get complex.”
Opportunities for pathogens arise as plants are bred to increase yield, often at the expense of their own defense systems. Other opportunities arise when a grower plants low-lying crops too close to a livestock field, making contamination easier.
Together and separately, Bais and Kniel and their collaborators have been looking at this plant problem from several angles for about five years.
They are looking at the “trojan horse” methods bacteria such as salmonella are using to elude plant immune systems and find their way to new human hosts.
They are looking at an assortment of irrigation methods that can carry bacteria from waterways, ponds, and reclaimed water to the surface and root systems of plants.
They are looking at the genetic components that enable pathogens to persist and survive along their passage to a new host.
Bais and Kniel have published multiple articles on these threats to the world’s food supply and have developed recommendations for increasing plant defenses.
Bais’ team, for example, developed and patented a beneficial microbe — UD1022 — to protect and strengthen plant root systems. That microbe has been licensed by BASF and is incorporated into an increasing variety of applications. Testing done as part of their new publication showed that roots inoculated with UD1022 — through watering and irrigation — could provide protection from these opportunistic bacteria.
Kali Kniel is a professor of microbial food safety in the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Kniel said she was surprised to see that UD1022 kept some mutants from getting into the plant.
“There is a lot of hope for biocontrols,” she said.
Kniel’s team and collaborators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several other universities in the Mid-Atlantic region, recently published new findings in PLOS One analyzing the pathogenic content of irrigation methods that draw from waterways, ponds and reclaimed water.
Those are pre-harvest perils. The post-harvest dangers come more from hygiene practices of workers on the conveyor belts that move these products to market.
Many companies run leafy greens through water treated with appropriate sanitizers and may consider ozone or ultraviolet treatments to address surface bacteria. They can’t see or treat human pathogens that already have gotten into the leaf.
“The food industry works tirelessly to make the product as safe as they can,” Kniel said. “But even then, we are growing these products outside, so they’re accessible to wildlife, wind, dust and water that may transmit microorganisms. It’s a tough situation.”
Nicholas Johnson, a graduate student in Bais’ lab, did painstaking work to examine how stomates on spinach and lettuce responded to applications of salmonella, Listeria and E.coli — three human pathogens that leave no apparent fingerprints, no way to see that they have infected a plant. He recorded the size of the stomate openings — called the aperture — for hundreds of stomates on each sample leaf.
He counted these sizes every three hours after the bacteria were applied.
“He had to sit under a microscope and count the aperture sizes,” Bais said. “And he has to be meticulous.”
He found some troubling results. The salmonella strain was reopening the stomates.
“Now we have a human pathogen trying to do what plant pathogens do,” Bais said. “That is scary.”
It would be especially scary, Bais said, if it were to occur in a “vertical” farm, where plants are grown in vertical rows hydroponically.
“These are wonderful systems,” Kniel said. “But there needs to be a lot of care within the system to control the water and interactions with people. There has to be a lot of handwashing. I work with a lot of growers to make sure they have ‘clean’ breaks and are sanitizing properly. When you do that, you have fewer products to recall.”
But the dangers are real.
“The industry is working hard on this,” Kniel said. “They are some of the most passionate, dedicated people I have ever met. But outbreaks happen.”
“And if this hits vertical farms, they don’t lose a batch,” Bais said. “They lose the whole house.”
The collaboration has drawn on a wide range of expertise, giving researchers insight into many angles of the problem.
“This project [with Bais] has mutant salmonella strains and that allows us another angle on the molecular biology side,” Kniel said. “The individual mutations are important for the salmonella structure and the regulation of stress. We can see the ability of the salmonella to internalize into the plant. When we used mutant strains we saw big differences in the ability to colonize and internalize — and that’s what consumers hear a lot about. You are not able to wash it off.
“We can also look at which genes or part of the organism might be more responsible for the persistence on the plant – making it last longer and stronger. That is so important when you think of food safety issues.”
Among the other questions researchers are asking:
Do these bacteria die off more easily when they are in the sun?
Does a lot of moisture or humidity allow them to grow?
How much do they interact with the plant?
The study of irrigation water in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States was done in collaboration with “Conserve,” a Center of Excellence that includes researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Maryland.
“We’re looking at where growers get their water from and what they are doing to make sure it is microbially safe,” she said.
Some of the water is reclaimed after it was used to wash other crops. Some comes from waterways and ponds. The team took a series of samples over a two-year period, testing for salmonella, listeria, E.coli, viruses and protozoa.
“Water has been shown in multiple outbreaks to be a potential risk of contamination,” Kniel said. “This paper is important because it is identifying the risks of ponds, rivers and reclaimed water as well as discussing what growers could do and how to treat water. A lot of growers are happy to use the technology as long as it is cost-effective and reliable and can be used for fresh produce.”
About the Researchers
Harsh Bais is associate professor of plant biology in the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and affiliated with the Delaware Biotechnology Institute. He earned his doctorate in plant biotechnology at the Central Food Technological Research Institute in India and did postdoctoral work in root biology at Colorado State University. Kali Kniel is a professor of microbial food safety in the same college. She earned her doctorate in food microbiology from Virginia Tech University and did postdoctoral work with the U.S. Agricultural Research Service. Also contributing to these publications were recent UD master’s degree graduates Nicholas Johnson, Samantha Gartley and Adam Vanore, postdoctoral researcher Pushpinder Litt and doctoral students Shani Craighead and Brienna Anderson-Coughlin.
BREAKING NEWS: Consumer Reports Finds Potentially Deadly Bacteria In Pre-Washed Greens
A new report out Friday reveals some leafy greens recently sold at supermarkets were contaminated with a potentially deadly bacteria. Consumer Reports says it tested nearly 284 samples of fresh greens like lettuce, spinach and kale and found six of those samples tainted with listeria
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JULY 26, 2019 / 9:43 AM / CBS NEWS
A new report out Friday reveals some leafy greens recently sold at supermarkets were contaminated with a potentially deadly bacteria. Consumer Reports says it tested nearly 284 samples of fresh greens like lettuce, spinach and kale and found six of those samples tainted with listeria.
Consumer Reports says the six contaminated samples included both pre-washed and unbagged greens sold at retailers in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York in June, including Acme, Costco, Hannaford, and Whole Foods. All of the retailers stress that food safety is a top priority, and public health officials have not reported any illnesses or concerns following their own inspections.
Consumer Reports notes their study is not large enough to draw any conclusions about a specific brand or retailer, but rather is a "snapshot" intended to highlight that more needs to be done to ensure safety.
In a statement to CBS News, a trade association that represents retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers that sell products to grocery stores said, "the incidents outlined in consumer reports … remind us that the entire supply chain has a responsibility for safe food handling."
One way to reduce the risk of listeria infection from greens like spinach and kale is to cook them.
Some common symptoms of listeria infection
Headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions as well as fever and muscle aches
Pregnant women may present symptoms differently. Typically they only experience fever and other flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and muscle aches. The CDC warns, however, that infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.
First published on July 26, 2019 / 9:43 AM
Manufacturer Recalls Salads, Sandwiches Sold At Target, Fresh Market Due To Health Risk
The manufacturer of some salads and sandwiches sold at Target and The Fresh Market has issued a recall due to potential listeria contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The manufacturer of some salads and sandwiches sold at Target and The Fresh Market has issued a recall due to potential listeria contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Elevation Foods is voluntarily recalling some containers of Archer Farms-brand egg salad; Freskëtbrand egg salad, tuna salad, and Thai lobster salad; and Archer Farms-brand deviled egg sandwiches produced on June 18, 2019.
On its website, The Fresh Market says its Thai lobster salad that's sold both prepackaged and by the pound at its self-serve seafood is included in the recall.
According to Elevation Foods, fewer than 1,087 cases of product were shipped to retailer warehouses throughout the United States.
Archer Farms Egg Salad is one of several salads included in a voluntary recall by Elevation Foods. (Photo: Provided)
To see if you have a product that's included in the recall, check the “use by” date printed on the side of the container and the lot number. The FDA website lists the following items as impacted by the recall:
Archer Farms-brand Egg Salad packaged in a 12-ounce clear, square plastic container, Lot Number W1906042A, Use By 12AUG2019 (printed on the side of each container) UPC 085239018682, distributed nationwide;
Freskët-brand Egg Salad packaged in a 32-ounce clear, square plastic container, Lot Number W1906042, Use By 12AUG2019A (printed on the side of each container;
Freskët-brand Tuna Salad packaged in a 5-pound white, round plastic container, Lot Number W1906054, Use By 02AUG2019A (printed on the side of each container;
Freskët-brand Thai Lobster Salad packaged in a 5-pound white, round plastic container, Lot Number W1906041, Use By 02AUG2019A (printed on the side of each container);
Archer Farms Deviled Egg Sandwich Half Sandwich with Bacon, UPC 220505000002, distributed nationwide;
Archer Farms Deviled Egg Sandwich on Multigrain, UPC 498780203566, distributed nationwide.
No illnesses have been reported, but listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, according to the FDA.
Fresket Thai Lobster Salad is one of several salads included in a voluntary recall by Elevation Foods. (Photo: Provided)
In otherwise healthy people, listeria monocytogenes can cause short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, according to the FDA. Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
Elevation Foods identified the problem with the products after receiving positive test results for three containers of affected egg salad which were sampled and tested by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, according to the FDA website. Elevation Foods is continuing to investigate potential sources of the problem.
Consumers who have purchased any of the recalled products are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions can call 866-761-9566 at any time.
Archer Farms Products Recalled Due To Possible Listeria Contamination
Some Archer Farms products are being recalled due to a possible Listeria contamination. Elevation Foods announced Friday that they are recalling containers of Archer Farms egg salad and deviled egg sandwiches
July 20, 2019
Several Freskët-Brand Products Also Affected By Recall
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Some Archer Farms products are being recalled due to a possible Listeria contamination.
Elevation Foods announced Friday that they are recalling containers of Archer Farms egg salad and deviled egg sandwiches.
Elevation Foods recalled containers of Archer Farms egg salad and deviled egg sandwiches. in July 2019. (Credit: FDA)
The following products are affected by the recall:
Archer Farms-brand Egg Salad packaged in a 12-ounce clear, square plastic container, Lot Number W1906042A, Use By 12AUG2019 (printed on the side of each container) UPC 085239018682
Archer Farms Deviled Egg Sandwich Half Sandwich with Bacon, UPC 220505000002
Archer Farms Deviled Egg Sandwich on Multigrain, UPC 498780203566
All of the affected Archer Farms products were distributed nationwide.
The following Freskët-brand products are also being recalled:
Freskët-brand Egg Salad packaged in a 32-ounce clear, square plastic container, Lot Number W1906042, Use By 12AUG2019A (printed on the side of each container
Freskët-brand Tuna Salad packaged in a 5-pound white, round plastic container, Lot Number W1906054, Use By 02AUG2019A (printed on the side of each container
Freskët-brand Thai Lobster Salad packaged in a 5-pound white, round plastic container, Lot Number W1906041, Use By 02AUG2019A (printed on the side of each container)
The recall does not say where the Freskët-brand products were distributed.
No illnesses have been reported at this time.
According to the Food and Drug Administration, fewer than 1,087 cases of the products have been shipped to retailer warehouses throughout the United States.
Elevation Foods recalled containers of Archer Farms egg salad and deviled egg sandwiches. in July 2019. (Credit: FDA)
Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, elderly people and those with weakened immune systems. Symptoms include high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
Anyone who bought a recalled product should return it for a full refund.
Anyone with questions can call 866-761-9566.
Visit fda.gov for more information on this recall.
Filed Under:Archer Farms, listeria, Recall
Food Irradiation Technology Not Widely Used With Fresh Produce, But It Could Be
December 7, 2018
By Stephen Kloosterman Contributing Editor
Food irradiation technology has been around for more than 50 years as a way to kill pathogens, although it is not widely used in the food processing industry.
Now, a growing firm called ScanTech Sciences is marketing its irradiation services for use with fresh produce.
ScanTech Sciences is building its first facility in McAllen, Texas’ Rio Grande Valley ECP Center. It opened for commercial operations during the summer 2018.
The facility can process between 120-160 cases of produce per minute, said Lindsay Eierman, ScanTech Sciences’ marketing manager. The company plans to open other facilities in ports of entry, such as New York/New Jersey and Nogales, Arizona, she said. Eventually, the company’s plans are to expand to areas such as of secondary import and export markets. Savannah, Georgia, Houston and California are among its targets.
University of Georgia Center for Food Safety Director Francisco Diez-Gonzalez spoke about the potential of the technique at the Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference in January 2018.
“It’s been proven it can reduce the count of salmonella and listeria by more than 99.99 percent,” Diez-Gonzalez said. “It’s capable of killing viruses. It also helps to reduce microorganisms that could have an influence in spoilage.”
The technology, however, isn’t widespread in its use.
“Although the technology has been around for quite some time, it was not economical for use as a commercial application until the early 2000s,” Eierman said. In 2004, Australia shipped half a ton of irradiated mangoes to New Zealand, which was the first international use of food irradiation.
Food irradiation is approved by dozens of reputable organizations, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, the American Medical Association and the United Nations World Health Organization, Eierman said. It’s also currently used as a post-harvest food process in more than 40 countries.
Room to grow
“There are two primary reasons that food irradiation is not more widely used,” Eierman said. “The first issue is intellectual property and investment. The technology is very complicated and requires expertise in nuclear engineering, mechanical engineering, and food science.”
Food irradiation can include the use of gamma rays, X-rays or electron beams, called e-beams. ScanTech Sciences’ patented form of e-beam food irradiation is Electronic Cold-Pasteurization, so-called because it allows product to be kept cold throughout the process. Not breaking the cold chain of storage is an added value for food processors.
The second reason food irradiation is uncommon, she said, is simply capacity. The technology is expensive, and Eierman said there have not been very many successful food irradiation ventures.
But that isn’t to say that food irradiation is rare.
Eierman said about a third of spices imported into the United States are irradiated. Many imported tropical fruits, such as guava, dragon fruit, persimmons and mangos, are irradiated. Also, much of the food consumed by NASA astronauts are irradiated to prevent sickness, according to the FDA’s website.
Eierman said food irradiation could be a good fit for processing fresh produce.
“Electronic Cold Pasteurization is a great solution for fruit, vegetables, herbs, spices and ready-to-eat (fresh-cut) commodities such as sliced apples,” she said. “It is particularly beneficial for commodities with short shelf life (such as berries or leafy greens), commodities with a high incidence of pests (such as peaches, which have the plum curculio), and commodities that are susceptible to contamination with pathogens (such as Listeria monocytogenes in cantaloupe or E. coli in lettuce).”
Irradiation is useful for not only for sanitizing foodstuffs but also eradicating pests.
One example of this is U.S. blueberry exports. Blueberry maggot fly larvae in the eastern U.S., and their presence in blueberries restricts exports of the berries to some countries trying to avoid infestation by the blueberry maggot fly. As certain chemical fumigants are phased out, irradiation is among tools being examined in a project led the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council.
Eierman said her company’s technique of e-beam food irradiation could serve as a chemical-free alternative to methyl bromide fumigation, which remains in widespread use despite known downsides.
“Methyl bromide is a chemical fumigant that has been used for decades on imported and exported commodities as a pest control mechanism,” Eierman said. “Unfortunately, methyl bromide is a harmful ozone-depleting substance. The Montreal Protocol of 1987 was an international treaty that attempted to phase out the use of methyl bromide. However, methyl bromide remains in use because it is one of the few substances that provides effective pest control.”
Her company also hopes to combine its food irradiation services with integrated logistics, transportation and information services.
“These services reduce compliance costs associated with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA),” she said. The Produce Safety Rule allows an exemption for produce that is going to a kill-step process. Electronic Cold-Pasteurization is a viable solution for meeting this exemption.
“ScanTech Sciences is eager to transform the food industry by providing safer, higher-quality produce,” Eierman said.
FDA certified
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has evaluated the safety of irradiated food for more than 30 years and has found the process to be safe. FDA does, however, require irradiated foods bear the international symbol for irradiation. Look for the Radura symbol along with the statement “Treated with radiation” or “Treated by irradiation” on the food label. Bulk foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are required to be individually labeled or to have a label next to the sale container. The FDA does not require that individual ingredients in multi-ingredient foods (e.g., spices) be labeled.
Tags: food safety, listeria