Low water activity (aw) and dried foods such as dried dairy
and meat products, grain-based and dried ready-to-eat cereal products,
powdered infant formula, peanut and nut pastes, as well as flours and
meals have increasingly been associated with product recalls and
foodborne outbreaks due to contamination by pathogens such as
Salmonella spp. and enterohemorrhagic E. coli. In particular, recent
foodborne outbreaks and product recalls related to
Salmonella-contaminated spices have raised the level of public health
concern for spices as agents of foodborne illnesses. Presently, most
spices are grown outside the U.S., mainly in 8 countries: India,
Indonesia, China, Brazil, Peru, Madagascar, Mexico and Vietnam. Many of
these countries are under-developed and spices are harvested and stored
with little heed to sanitation. The FDA has regulatory oversight of
spices in the United States; however, the agency's control is largely
limited to enforcing regulatory compliance through sampling and testing
only after imported foodstuffs have crossed the U.S. border.
Unfortunately, statistical sampling plans are inefficient tools for
ensuring total food safety. As a result, the development and use of
decontamination treatments is key.
This book provides an understanding of the microbial challenges to the
safety of low aw foods, and a historic backdrop to the
paradigm shift now highlighting low aw foods as vehicles for
foodborne pathogens. Up-to-date facts and figures of foodborne illness
outbreaks and product recalls are included. Special attention is given
to the uncanny ability of Salmonella to persist under dry conditions
in food processing plants and foods. A section is dedicated specifically
to processing plant investigations, providing practical approaches to
determining sources of persistent bacterial strains in the industrial
food processing environment. Readers are guided through dry cleaning,
wet cleaning and alternatives to processing plant hygiene and
sanitation. Separate chapters are devoted to low aw food
commodities of interest including spices, dried dairy-based products,
low aw meat products, dried ready-to-eat cereal products,
powdered infant formula, nuts and nut pastes, flours and meals,
chocolate and confectionary, dried teas and herbs, and pet foods. The
book provides regulatory testing guidelines and recommendations as well
as guidance through methodological and sampling challenges to testing
spices and low aw foods for the presence of foodborne
pathogens. Chapters also address decontamination processes for low
aw foods, including heat, steam, irradiation, microwave, and
alternative energy-based treatments.
