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For years, food producers who make lightly preserved, ready-to-eat food have had to follow a set of guidelines to stop growth of Clostridium botulinum bacteria and production of a strong neurotoxin. The toxin can cause a serious illness called botulism.
For refrigerated products, the guidelines for controlling Clostridium botulinum indicate that the water contained in the products should have a salt content of at least 3.5%. Unfortunately, this hampers efforts to develop salt-reduced products, even though such products would benefit public health, as most consumers eat more salt than recommended.
If food producers want to launch products that contain e.g. less salt, they have had to conduct laboratory experiments to document that such a change in recipe will not compromise food safety. This is a time-consuming and costly process.
Here's the ultimate guide to preparing lettuce for maximum food safety. (Plus whether or not you need to give prewashed lettuce an extra rinse.) The post How to Wash Lettuce Correctly (and Dry It) appeared first on The Healthy.
Food producers can use a mathematical model developed at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, to ensure their products do not.
Researchers develop mathematical model to prevent botulism
Food producers can use a mathematical model developed at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, to ensure their products do not cause botulism. It is the most comprehensive model of its kind.
For years, food producers who make lightly preserved, ready-to-eat food have had to follow a set of guidelines to stop growth of Clostridium botulinum bacteria and production of a strong neurotoxin. The toxin can cause a serious illness called botulism.
For refrigerated products, the guidelines for controlling Clostridium botulinum indicate that the water contained in the products should have a salt content of at least 3.5%. Unfortunately, this hampers efforts to develop salt-reduced products, even though such products would benefit public health, as most consumers eat more salt than recommended.
Study details UK investigations into outbreak of Listeria
Researchers have expanded knowledge of the UK’s involvement in a multi-country Listeria outbreak. Twelve patients were detected in the UK between 2015 and 2018; contaminated sweetcorn was recovered from the freezer of another person subject in 2019.
Overall, the outbreak included 54 cases of listeriosis in Australia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, and the UK with 10 deaths. It was traced to a frozen vegetable factory in Hungary that in 2018 was owned by Greenyard.
In the UK, the outbreak strain was detected in a chicken and sweet corn sandwich filling from a manufacturer in June 2018. The producer added frozen sweet corn directly to fillings without additional cooking or blanching. Sampling was done during routine testing and was not part of the outbreak investigation. The company has now put in place additional controls, which include a heating step for frozen sweet corn before adding it to the sandwich filling.