[AIB Contamination Control] The Naked Eye

As a child I hated onions. Before eating dinner every evening I would ask my mother if the meal had onions in it. She always said “no”, but one evening I caught her in a lie! I had been eating a quite tasty (although I wouldn’t admit it at the time) casserole, when much to my dismay I bit into a tiny piece of onion. I looked at my mother in horror and said, “I thought you said there weren’t any onions in here!” Before I could say anything else she brushed my disgust aside and replied, “Oh well, what you don’t see won’t hurt you.” She was right, I didn’t die that day! In fact, if I hadn’t bit into the onion, I would have never known they were in the dish, but what if the opposite was true. What if the very things that you couldn’t see in your food were potentially dangerous enough to cause a life threatening illness or death?

Of course, I’m not talking about taste preferences, like onions, I’m talking about the dangerous contaminants that food facilities work so hard to prevent. It is not enough for the products we consume to look safe to the naked eye. There are very important food plant programs that are in place to ensure that food products are safe and desirable to eat when they reach the end consumer. Unseen contaminants come in many forms and may not be detected if they are chemical or microbial in nature. Some of the most dangerous unseen contaminants, such as certain food allergens, chemicals and bacteria, are present in every food facility. That is why it is so important that every company develop policies to prevent contamination and ensure that employees understand and value the importance of following the policies.

Allergens. Allergens are one of the biggest concerns in the food industry. They are recognized internationally as a food safety concern. Undeclared allergens account for a large number of recalls, hospital visits, and even deaths each year. The eight major allergens are milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, crustaceous shellfish, wheat, and soybeans.

Even miniscule amounts of allergen protein can cause a reaction in allergic persons. Allergen cross-contamination can occur at any stage of food storage, production or transport. A policy should be in place to ensure that materials received are segregated during transport. For example, if allergen and non-allergen ingredients are shipped on the same trailer either a barrier must be in place to separate the various products, or the allergens should be loaded last and unloaded first so that other materials won’t cross the area if spillage occurs.

Allergens should never be stored above non-allergens. For example, only milk items should be stored over milk items, soy over soy, etc. However, a product with milk and egg may be stored above a product with milk, egg and soy. Another approach is to store all allergens on the bottom row. The most important step in preventing allergen cross-contamination is to make sure allergens are labeled according the plant’s established color-coding system. For example, all products containing egg might have a red label and all products containing milk might have a yellow label.

Employee actions also play a major role in preventing allergen contamination. When tools and utensils are not segregated or properly cleaned, allergens can be spread to non-allergen products. The company’s color-code system can also be used for utensils. For example, if red is the color used to identify materials containing milk then designated red utensils would be used solely for milk products. Employee clothing and hands can also be sources of contamination. Allergen dust can be transferred via clothing fibers or on hands that haven’t been properly cleaned.

The most important consideration in preventing allergen contamination is to educate, educate, educate! Make sure all employees in your operation understand the damage that unidentified allergens can cause if ingested by a food allergic person. When they understand the potential danger that can occur they will most likely take allergen contamination prevention seriously.

Chemicals. Some people may think that chemicals approved for food usage, such as food-grade lubricants, do not pose a problem if they are introduced to a food product. However, anything that is not included on a product label, but is included in the product, is a contaminant. Chemicals that often cause unseen contamination include pesticides, cleaning compounds, maintenance chemicals, and even hairspray and body lotion.

Pesticides can be transferred to food products when they are not applied properly. To prevent pesticide contamination, AIB International recommends that food plants implement Integrated Pest Management to identify the source of pest issues and eliminate the source of infestations without using pesticides. If pesticides are used in the plant, consult a licensed pest control professional who has received food safety training.

Some companies purchase bulk cleaning chemicals and transfer them to smaller containers for use through the facility. If your company does this, make sure that all containers are labeled and are not reused for another purpose. This will prevent employees from unknowingly using a non-approved chemical to clean food-contact equipment. Also, educate employees about the proper types of cleaning chemicals to use for food contact areas.

Maintenance. Imagine this scenario. On a particularly hectic day, the maintenance crew at your department is being pulled in a million directions. It seems everything in the plant needs repaired at the same time. A new maintenance technician has just finished repairing a leak in the women’s restroom when he is paged to fix a bagger that isn’t working properly. He gets the equipment working in record time, but he has unknowingly caused major potential loss because he forgot to use a set of dedicated food contact tools. He used the same tools to fix the food contact equipment that he had just used to fix a toilet. That same day, another maintenance technician finished repairing a conveyor when he noticed a smudge of grease on the belt. He knew that once the belt was back online product would come into direct contact, so he grabbed a nearby rag to wipe it clean. He did his job to eliminate the excess lubricant, but neglected to determine what the rag was originally used for. Was it used to clean a chemical spill earlier? Did an employee wipe sweat from his brow with it? Was it sprayed with a cleaning solvent and then used to clean body fluids? There are a number of unseen contaminants that could have contacted the conveyor belt.

Unless all employees, including maintenance staff, are educated about the importance of food safety, situations similar to these scenarios could occur and potentially cause product recall, loss of business, and consumer illness. Before beginning work at your facility, educate maintenance technicians about the importance of using segregated and/or properly cleaned tools for food contact equipment, how to properly apply chemicals and lubricants, and how to conduct preventive maintenance as scheduled to assure that equipment is working properly.

Bacteria. Did you know that, in the right conditions, the number of bacteria doubles every half hour? So, in only 12 hours, one cell could multiply into over 16 million cells. With numbers that high, it may seem as though any person would be able to see the cells. But, they are so miniscule that it would take 400 million cells to equal the size of a single grain of sugar! When you consider the adverse health effects that microbiological contamination can cause, you can understand how important it is to prevent the spread of bacteria through the plant.

Bacteria are everywhere, but cannot be seen by the naked eye. That is why it is so important that any equipment surfaces, tools, packaging containers, and even employee hands are always cleaned properly to eliminate the spread of unwanted germs. Because there are so many different kinds of microorganisms that can cause serious illness, it is very important that you do your job to prevent them from spreading. There are several actions you can take to stop bacterial growth:

• Follow good sanitation practices. The first, and probably easiest, way to prevent contamination in a food plant is to follow good sanitation practices. Everyone should wash his or her hands according to procedure after using the restroom and before handling any food. Make sure that employees understand the importance of washing their hands after they sneeze or cough.
• Keep your facility clean. Maintaining a clean facility will reduce the number of microorganisms, thus increasing the plant’s level of food safety. All utensils, equipment, and surfaces should be properly cleaned before and after use. When cleaning is completed, everything should be dried carefully to reduce any contamination that may have occurred and help prevent bacteria from growing.
• Separate ingredients and products. To fight against cross-contamination, make sure that all ingredients are separated, especially raw meat, poultry, and eggs. Raw ingredients should be stored in an area away from the finished product. Also, label all containers and utensils properly.
• Prepare and process foods correctly. When producing foods that are at risk for microbial contamination, it is important for food plant personnel to understand the proper way to prepare them. All fruits and vegetables need to be thoroughly washed in order to remove any unseen organisms that could harm consumers.

Conclusion. No matter how insignificant employees may feel in their roles in the food industry, everyone has a chance to protect consumers from unseen danger. By understanding how their actions can affect food safety and staying aware of instances that could cause undetectable contamination, food plant employees become unsung heroes!

So remember, even if the five-second rule is accepted in your own home, in no way should it ever cross your mind at work. After all food isn’t as safe as it may seem to the naked eye!

The author is publication coordinator, AIB International.