Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) defi ned a hazard as “A
biological, chemical, or physical agent that is reasonably likely to cause illness or
injury in the absence of its control” (1997). Because we are focused on a specifi c
product category—cut fruits or vegetables—documentable evidence of the hazards
associated with these products are available from government or other public
databases.
Microbiological Hazards
Outbreak data is available from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, see CDC 2008). This
information has been compiled over a period of years to determine which commodities
have been implicated with the most human pathogenic outbreaks. One survey of this
data showed produce-related outbreaks were on the rise (Sivapalasingam 2004). In
addition, many companies may conduct their own microbiological testing of a product
and this data can be added to a risk assessment for the products being packaged in
their facility.
Physical Hazards
Presently, there are no compiled databases on physical hazards associated with fresh-
cut produce, but most processors have internal documentation on items found in
processing-line grading reports, sample analyses, and customer complaint fi les. This
kind of “industry knowledge” can be used to determine the commodities most often
associated with physical contaminants such as rocks, wood pieces, plastic pieces, or
other nonedible items. This type of information could be compiled from multiple
processors to generate a more comprehensive risk assessment.
Chemical Hazards
One of the most frequently associated chemical contaminants for produce is pesticides,
which can be monitored through government sampling studies. Products are randomly
sampled from the retail marketplace and tested for pesticide residues to enforce the
tolerances set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The FDA conducts
annual pesticide residue monitoring and publishes the results on the web for easy
access (U.S. FDA 2008). Many fruits and vegetables are tested each year, but some
are only randomly included each year. Those commodities that have violative results
(levels higher than the restrictions set by the EPA, including detected chemicals that
have no allowable tolerance levels set by EPA for that commodity) should be listed
as a more risky product.
Once the hazards and their frequency have been identifi ed there should be addi-
tional consideration given to the production/handling environment for the fi nished
product and the preparation of the food product by the end-user. For instance, if the
commodities will be cut and packaged in the raw form and then served as a raw salad,
the risk would be higher than if the products were cooked before consumption. In
another scenario, the commodities could be cut and packaged as a fresh salsa where
the acidic pH could provide protection against a microbiological risk, even though the
product would be uncooked. It becomes easy to see that each product must be analyzed
carefully to determine the appropriate level of risk to be applied.
