Lecture 21 Food Hygiene Flashcards
What is food safety/food hygiene?
All necessary measures during the
production, processing, storage,
distribution, and preparation of
food that ensures that food is safe,
sound, wholesome, and fit for
human consumption
Why is food hygiene in vetmed curriculum?
Pet food safety increasingly
important
Multi billion-dollar industry
Regulated by FDA
Relies on similar tools and in some
cases same infrastructure
Pet foods, like human foods, must
be:
* Pure and wholesome
* Safe to eat
* Produced under sanitary
conditions
* Contain no harmful substances
* Be truthfully labeled
Relies quite a bit on animal by products
Is a risk pathway for human
illness as well
Role of veterinarians in food safety (“farm to fork”)
Farms –> private practitoners
Markets –> federal and state vets
Slaughter and processing plants –> federal and state vets
Grocery stores and restaurants –> health departments
Homes –> consumers
Factors leading to a demand for federal meat
inspection
Commercialization of meat product:
- U.S. consumer no longer had influence
over sanitation, wholesomeness, and
freedom from adulteration of meat
purchased
Loss of troops to food poisoning (Spanish
American War):
- Need canned food like a beef stew for the
war in 1898
- T. Roosevelt Chastised his army for having
disdain for embalmed meat until he tried
it
- Likened it to eating his own hat-possibly
even worse
Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle
Export Restrictions
The reports of committees on food
safety
- The Bureau of Animal Industry
- A committee appointed by Roosevelt
verified Upton Sinclair’s observation
What was the Spanish American war: the “Embalmed beef” episode?
The Rough Riders encountered food
poisoning
* the “embalmed beef” episode
* caused more casualties to American troops
than the war itself
* 279 lost in combat
* 1000 lost to embalmed meat
Describe the Export restrictions imposed.
Foreign countries impose restrictions on U.S. meat products
* Poor sanitation
* Trichinosis, tuberculosis and contagious pleuropneumonia in the U.S. livestock
* 1890-Benjamin Harrison signed 1st Law requiring inspection of salted pork and bacon before exportation
* 1891 expanded to include certification of live cattle and beef intended for exportation.
What was the purpose of Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle?
to expose the appalling working conditions in the meat-packing industry. His description of diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws. Before the turn of the 20th century, a major reform movement had emerged in the United States.
Poultry Products Inspection Act (1957)
- Provided for inspection of poultry destined for interstate commerce
and for poultry from foreign sources
Meat Inspection Act (1906)
Applied only to meat sold across state lines (interstate) or exported
“To prevent the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or
deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein.”
Humane Slaughter
Act (1958)
- Handling in connection with slaughter must be accomplished humanely
- Livestock must be insensible to
pain before exsanguination - Voluntary unless meat packers sold to the federal government until 1978
when Law amended to require it of
all FSIS inspected meat for human
food.
Humane handling includes
transportation and holding prior
to slaughter.
* Livestock must have access to
water
* >24 hours, they must also have access to feed.
* Animals in transit need to be
rested every 28 hours
* Ramps, driveways and pens
should support safe movement
and protect against injury
What are the methods of humane slaughter?
Captive bolt
* Non-penetrating
type
* Penetrating type
- Gunshot
- Carbon dioxide
- Electrical stunning
- Electrical slaughter
- Carbon dioxide
slaughter - Kosher slaughter
What are signs of effective stunning?
- Animal collapses
- No rhythmic breathing
- Fixed, glazed expression
in the eyes - No corneal reflex
- Relaxed jaw
- Tongue hanging out
Electrical stunning leads to
“blood splashing”
Electrical slaughter (deep stunning) reduces or eliminates
“blood splashing”
Describe carbon dioxide slaughter
- Asphyxiation by CO2 was approved but only for swine.
- Has the advantage of preventing “blood splashing.”
Wholesome Meat Act (WMA) – 1967
All meat sold in the
United States must be
inspected
Inspection of
imported meat
products was
increased
Wholesome Meat
Act Exemption- Curtis Amendment
Custom slaughtered meat was marked
“Not for Sale”
All meat sold at retail must be derived
from inspected and passed carcasses
Wholesome Poultry Products Act (WPPA) – 1968
Covers the inspection of all sold poultry and poultry products
Exemption categories:
- An establishment can raise less than 1000 birds per year
and sell them for human consumption without
inspection if they are sold directly to the consumer
- Small processing (slaughter) plants that slaughter 20,000
birds per year
Humane Methods of Slaughter Act-HMSA (1978)
- All plants to employ only humane methods of slaughter and handling
in preparation for slaughter - Prohibits importation of meat from animals not handled or
slaughtered humanely
Exemption
* Poultry-Does not require individual inspection of birds-batch approach used
* Ritual slaughter in accordance with religious faith
Describe the Transition to HACCP framework
Industry growth and complexity
Expert advocate for shift of responsibilities from the inspector to the establishment
Unique food safety challenge pushed industry to a more systemsprocess control based regulation
* Jack-in-the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in early 1990’s Hundreds
sick, four children died
Public call for change to address the ‘unseen hazards’ of meat and
poultry
What is HACCP?
HACCP for meat and poultry was born in 1996
* Each meat and poultry establishment had to develop its own pathogen
reduction program
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)
* A food safety system designed to reduce, prevent or eliminate food safety
hazards in the production process
* Has 7 steps- Id hazard, establish critical control point, set critical limit,
develop corrective actions, set monitoring system, records, validation process
Shift to establishment responsibility Inspector “verifies” compliance
with requirements for this program
