Archive for June, 2009
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
Although this website is primarily concerned with Food safety, it is also a good place to let food businesses know about related useful information.
Pro-Visual Publishing has released their latest free Hospitality Industry poster. They produce food safety ones for different segments of the food industry, but this latest is the ‘Hospitality Industry Guide to Safety’.
Around 85% of all the compensation claims made by the hospitality industry are from injury and poisoning. According to the Australian Safety and Compensation Council in 2007/2008 there were 5150 injury and poisoning claims made by this industry. This Guide will be a useful tool to try and reduce this huge number of claims.
As with all of the Guides produced by Pro-Visual Publishing, industry bodies are involved in the development. With this Guide, the Hotel Motel and Accommodation Association (HMAA) was involved in the development and provided industry specific information to ensure it is suitable to the industry.
This Guide focuses on minimising risks like; slips, falls and trips whilst showing methods for handling chemicals, hazardous materials and biological waste properly. As a poster it can be placed on the wall directly in the workplace, as with all the other Pro-Visual Guides, and training can be done directly from it.
FREE Copies of the guide are now available by calling (02) 8272 2611 or emailing enquiries@provisual.com.au. More information about this Guide and the others (including those for Food Safety) is available at www.provisual.com.au
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
With the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey showing an increase in obesity in Australia, there are calls to have legislation or mandatory programs to try and control or reduce this trend.
Melbourne City Council has designed the “green light, eat right” program as one way of having the businesses in food courts address this significant health issue.
More than 50% of the food businesses / outlets in the QV Urban Market in Melbourne are running the program as a pilot, as of this month, and is the first time a food court in Australia has taken such an action to help address obesity.
The program uses a traffic light colour scheme to help consumers identify the foods that have the highest nutritional value (green), that can be eaten in moderation (orange), and the others that should only be eaten occasionally (red).
The program was developed in conjunction with Nutrition Australia and includes encouraging the food outlets to use lean meats and low fat dairy foods, and also to cook with healthy oils and increase the use of fruits and vegetables.
The outlets involved receive accreditation and then are awarded a certificate at Gold, Silver or Bronze level based on an assessment of their menus by Nutrition Australia. This program was developed after Melbourne City Council recognised that in some parts of the USA, there is now a legal requirement that chain restaurants must now show the calorie counts of their products on their menus.
The agenda for the Federal Government’s Preventative Health Taskforce includes obesity and what can be done about it, so ideas like requiring calorie counts on menus of chain restaurants and this new “green light, eat right “program will certainly be reviewed as part of that agenda.
For more information about the “green light, eat right “program go to www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
According to figures from the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) there are 30.2 cases of Salmonella for every 100,000 New Zealanders. The NZFSA has introduced a plan to reduce this figure.
NZFSA Principal Advisor (Risk Management) Judi Lee says “Salmonella is recognised as one of the 3 most important pathogens in New Zealand, second only to Campylobacter. That’s why NZFSA has earmarked this disease as one of its key strategic priorities. We aim to achieve a 30% reduction in the annual incidence of foodborne salmonellosis after 5 years.”
“The early stages of the new strategy will focus on intelligence gathering from a wide range of domestic food sectors and imported foods to try to identify the main sources of foodborne disease. This information will provide a sound scientific basis for pinpointing where in the food chain we need to take action.”
“Many of the primary processing industries hold a significant amount of data on Salmonella, as do some of the major retailing chains. NZFSA will be collaborating with a wide range of food sectors to gain a better understanding of the prevalence of Salmonella in food. This information will help us decide what controls are required.”
For more information about the new strategy go to www.nzfsa.govt.nz
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, oats, barley and rye, and is therefore very commonly found in most food businesses.
It is recognised as one of the food allergens in the Food Standards Code, and is now the most common of the food allergens in Australia. Most retail food businesses now carry at least one gluten free product, as it is being accepted as mainstream. Only as little as three years ago, there were no where near the amount of gluten free products in our supermarkets, as there are now.
Unlike the other food allergens, gluten causes the allergic reaction in the gut, as it does not have the ability to properly digest or process the protein. A person who has this disease is known as a Coeliac. The typical symptoms include; diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome, cramps, gas, flatulence, extreme discomfort / pain and significant bloating. It can also result in death, depending upon the person.
To properly determine if a person is a Coeliac, they must undergo formal allergen testing. Not everyone who claims they are a Coeliac have actually had the test done, but have found that they feel better when they remove gluten from their diet.
Food businesses that claim a food is gluten free must ensure that it is in fact free from gluten. This is done through having a suitable Allergen Control program in place. This program includes; training, cleaning, purchasing from suitable suppliers, scheduling, labelling, correct storage, ensuring customers can make informed choices, and knowing the ingredients of their ingredients.
There is work being done by Dr Bob Anderson, WEHI Clinician Scientist, and his scientific team in Melbourne on a vaccine for Coeliac Disease. The experimental vaccine is currently in the Phase 1 Clinical trial stage of testing.
If the vaccine is successful and proceeds through to manufacture, a strict gluten free diet for Coeliacs may not be necessary in the future. It will also have a significant impact on the food industry.
For more information about Allergen Control Programs go to www.allergenbureau.net.au
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
Campylobacter jejuni is a common source of food poisoning in Australia, and is in fact, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the leading cause of food borne illness in the USA.
It is commonly associated with eating uncooked food, especially chicken and beef, or by drinking water contaminated by faeces.
It is the cause of the syndrome known as “Traveller’s Diarrhoea” (TD), which often afflicts tourists in tropical countries such as Mexico or Thailand. It also affects those not travelling including, in 2008, C.jejuni caused more than 200 cases of food poisoning at a British Columbia bike race.
Recently a team from the University of Guelph in Canada announced that they have worked with the U.S. Navy to develop a sugar-based vaccination that may prevent “traveller’s diarrhoea”.
Mario Monteiro, from the University of Guelph, the main driver of this development, explained that he and his team chose to create a vaccine for C. jejuni because “it is a major source of food poisoning in the developing world and the U.S. military… the recent appearance of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains has now created a need for this type of research.”
So far it has been tested with a 100% success rate on monkeys, with no illness shown. This means that the process can work through to human trials however, the actual vaccine will most likely not be available for public use for about 10 years.
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
This is one of the growth areas in the food industry. It involves the inclusion of extremely small (1,000 of them stacked together would be approximately the thickness of a piece of office paper) specialized particles in the food to provide specific benefits.
This technology is already commonly used in medicines and skin care, as well as in the energy and biotech industries. It is only recently that the inclusion in foods has started.
As with genetically modified crops, there has been much discussion about this technology and it will surely continue to grow as a hot topic in the food industry. There is some potential secrecy by companies about any research into nanotechnology, as there are distinct competitive advantages, however, this is making it difficult for regulatory agencies to determine the risks and to develop laws that will manage and control this new technology.
The following are some of the potential advantages to using nontechnology in foods;
- Contamination Sensor - the nano particles could be set up to change colour or appearance if there are contaminations, including specific food poisoning bacteria, in the food. This would significantly reduce current delays in waiting for microbial test results.
- Antimicrobial Packaging - nano particles of certain metals can be laid onto packaging materials to give antimicrobial properties.
- Tracking and Tracing - using nano particles, the stripes on barcodes have been made smaller, which gives significantly more variations and also better traceability in food poisoning outbreaks.
- Enhanced Nutrient Delivery - by using nano-encapsulation, nutrients can become more soluble which allows for quicker and better absorption by the body.
- Reduction in Food Additives - by using nanotechnology, mouthfeel in products like low fat Mayonnaise seems similar to that in standard fat products , reducing the need to add thickened and emulsifiers.
For more information about this emerging area of the food industry go to www.foodstandards.gov.au
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
New research from the USA by the Rutgers Food Policy Institute has shown that only about 60 per cent of the studied sample reported having looked for recalled food in their homes ever, and only 10 per cent said they had ever actually found a recalled food product in their home.
“Despite widespread awareness of recent foodborne illness outbreaks, and a sense that the number of food recalls is increasing, about half of Americans say that food recalls have had no impact on their lives,” said psychologist William K. Hallman, a professor of human ecology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.
The research also showed that about 75 percent of those who responded would like to have personalised recall information at the grocery stores and 60percent believe that they should receive this information directly through letters or email.
The study did find that once consumers know about a recall, they spread the word about it. The problem is that then they appear to not go and check whether any of the foods in their home are in fact the recalled products.
Professor Hallman said, “Getting consumers to pay attention to news about recalls isn’t the hard part but getting them to take the step of actually looking for recalled food products in their homes is a real challenge.” He also said that making the recall messages personalised may help address the sense by some consumers that the Recall Notices out there are not for them but only affect others. Making the message personalised should make it harder for people to ignore the importance of the recall and the need to do something about the message.
The study highlighted a frightening statistic - about 12 percent of those involved in the survey reported eating food they thought had been recalled. This shows that when food businesses send recall messages to the consumers, they need to be clear and provide distinct and easy instructions on what to do with the food. Instructions such as “throw out all product that has this batch code / use by date” or “Seal product and immediately return to where you purchased it”, are clear and easy for consumers to understand. Asking consumers “to hold the product and not throw away” may be seen as being confusing - is the product OK or isn’t it?
In Australia, all those businesses that manufacture, distribute, import or wholesale food products must have a Product Recall Program that meets the requirements of the Recall Protocol, which can be found at www.foodstandards.gov.au
Even though it was done in the USA, this study shows that food businesses need to be careful about how we communicate our recalls, so that consumers are aware of the importance of the recall and what they should do about it.
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
Of the many issues affecting the food industry today, one of the most influential is obesity and what businesses can do to reduce their potential impact on this increasing trend.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the National Health Survey of 2007-08 on 11 May 2009. The last in depth survey of this level was done in 1995. The new survey shows some frightening new statistics, which will have an impact on not only food businesses but the community as a whole.
The Body Mass Index (BMI) in the new survey shows that 68% of adult men and 55% of adult women were overweight or obese. In 1995, 64% of men and 49% of women were considered overweight or obese. The BMI is a relationship between height and weight, and is the recognised method for measuring weight increases and therefore obesity.
For adults the highest proportion of people who were obese / overweight were in the middle to older age group range with 79% of men aged between 65-74 being considered obese / overweight and for women it is the age group 55-64 with a level of 68%.
If this is not frightening enough, the statistics for children now being considered obese / overweight has risen from 5.2% in 1995 to 7.8% in the last survey. The obesity statistics for girls have not changed since the last survey but for boys the proportion that is considered obese has gone from 4.5% to 9.7%.
This has significant implications for the food industry and particularly for those food businesses targeting children. As a result of these findings, there have been renewed calls for changes to food legislation to address this significant health issue.
Even though BMI has been used as the measure for this survey and obesity in general, there has been some discussion recently about whether it is the ideal measurement tool, as it does not take into account that some people are simply heavier set and may not in fact be overweight /obese. There is also some thoughts that people who have above average BMI scores are actually healthier than those whose BMI is within the acceptable range.
According to the author of The Obesity Myth, Paul Campos, using the BMI standards Brad Pitt may be thought to be overweight and George Clooney would be considered obese.
The 2007-08 survey can be found on the National Health Survey at the www.abs.gov.au The survey also shows other interesting results, including alcohol and fruit / vegetable consumptions.
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
In the last week 23 more premises were added to the NSW Food Authority’s Name and Shame list. This brings the total to 547 premises and a total of 922 fines. NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said that “the site is on track to register a thousand infringements in its first year, as was predicted based on annual Food Authority statistics”.
The list was established to provide consumers with information about those food premises that had been in breach of food law, to help them decide where they want to eat or purchase from. It has received more than 1.5 million hits since it was started in July 2008.
It has been updated already to make it more user friendly and consumers can now access information through a search by trading name, suburb, postcode, date and even type of breach. “This website is extremely popular, it’s an Australian first, it’s less than 12 months old and we have already made improvements to make it more user-friendly for consumers,” Mr Macdonald advised.
“Let’s remember that the vast majority of food businesses in NSW do the right thing, and deliver exceptional fresh food to consumers,” Minister Macdonald said. This list is a way for consumers to easily identify those premises that let the side down.
The following are examples of the types of premises currently in the list;
- Hot bread bakery in Ballina fined $550 for selling a loaf of bread with a cockroach in it.
- A supermarket in Breese Parade, Forster received two fines worth $1,320 for selling barbecue chicken and a meat pie after their “use-by” dates.
- A noodle bar in Chatswood received two fines of $330 each for hygiene problems. The shop is one of a chain of Sydney stores that have collectively received ten fines in 5 premises in a year.
- A bakery on the Great Western Highway, Blaxland was fined after a cigarette butt was found in a loaf of bread, this shop was also fined in 2008 for not having hand washing facilities
- A butchery in Burwood Road, Burwood received four fines totalling $2,640 for hygiene-related offences and for selling pork mince laced with sulphur dioxide, a banned preservative that disguises the appearance of meat and could cause allergic reaction
- A sandwich bar in Century Circuit, Baulkham Hills was issued with four penalty notices totalling $1320 for offences ranging from failing to keep the premises clean to not protecting food in a cool room from contaminationThe list is updated weekly and can be found at www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/penalty-notices/
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
The Coalition on Food Advertising to Children (CFAC) which includes; the Australian Medical Association, Choice and the Cancer Council, is a coalition of parents, health and community groups, has called for the regulations for junk food advertisements to be tightened.
This call has come after CFAC released figures showing that if children watch two hours of TV a day, they are likely to see 18 hours of advertisements for unhealthy food (eg; burgers, soft drinks and chips) per year - this equates to approximately 2200 junk food advertisements a year.
CFAC have started an on line campaign requesting that there be a government ban on the advertising of unhealthy foods during the times when children are likely to watching TV. The campaign can be found at www.burgercorp.com.au and this allows viewers to send their thoughts on this issue to the Federal Health Minister.
“The health of Australia’s children, now and into the future, is of paramount importance. Food advertising influences what food children want, ask for, and eat,” AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua, added. “Combating obesity is a shared responsibility. The broadcast industry and broadcast regulatory authorities have a significant role to play in these efforts.”
On 01 January 2009, the food and grocery sector of the food industry, introduced the Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative. All companies which voluntarily participate in the program, pledge to commit publicly to advertise to children under 12 only when it will further promote healthy dietary choices and lifestyles.
“Each participant will develop and make publicly available, an individual company action plan that outlines how they will meet the initiatives core principles,” Australian Food and Grocery Council CEO Kate Carnell advised. “Participants will not advertise food and beverage products to children under 12 in any media unless those products represent healthy dietary choices, consistent with established scientific or Australian government standards.” “The Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiatives is supported by major food and beverage manufacturers, the Australian Association of National Advertisers and other industry groups. These companies represent the majority of food and beverage manufacturing in Australia.”
The Federal Government’s Preventative Health Taskforce will now be aware of this new campaign, as well as the approach being taken by many food businesses in this issue. The Taskforce is due to report in June and as a result there could be policy recommendations that may have a significant impact on all of the food industry.
