Food Safety

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Properly designed facilities, easy-to-access equipment and motivated employees all contribute to plant sanitation.

The beef industry has been focused on dealing with E. coli O157:H7 since the 1993 Jack in the Box outbreak. Researchers at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) have been conducting studies since then to help the industry reduce the risk of this pathogen ending up in beef products.

Let’s take a look back. HACCP was developed in the 1950s to early 1960s primarily because we wanted to send safe food into space.

Current antimicrobial compounds used by meat industry to destroy E. coli O157:H7 are effective against non-O157 STEC, according to an AMIF-funded study conducted by researchers at the Agricultural Research Service’s Meat Animal Research Center.

Tom Chestnut, vice president for Supply Chain Food Safety and Quality for NSF International, discusses the impact of the Food Safety Modernization Act.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2011 Estimates of Foodborne Illness in the U.S., the top five pathogens that contribute to domestically acquired foodborne illness are Norovirus, Salmonella (nontyphoidal), Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter spp. and Staphylococcus aureus.

The training process for inspection and detection systems remains crucial, but technological improvements have helped make this equipment even safer.

Tremendous progress has been made in providing consumers with food that is consistently safe. Credit for this success is shared among industry, innovators, researchers, public-health surveillance and regulators (yes, regulators most certainly deserve a piece of the credit).

Good hygiene practices with conveyors can keep meat products pathogen-free.

Clean-in-place and open-plant-cleaning systems still grapple with food safety, environmental issues, water costs and availability, and energy costs.