Spices and dried aromatic herbs impart flavour when added to food, and they may include many parts of the plant, including berries, flowers, leaves, roots and seeds. A number of different pathogens have been found in spices on the market, especially Salmonella spp., B. cereus and C. perfringens. There have also been several disease outbreaks associated with spices and dried aromatic herbs. An increased concern and attention to the safety of spices and dried aromatic herbs prompted, the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) to request FAO and WHO to undertake a risk assessment on microbiological hazards in these food commodities. An expert meeting of the FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) considered the global evidence on the burden of illness, prevalence and concentration of selected microbial hazards with respect to various spices and dried aromatic herbs, and interventions aimed at controlling them in these commodities. The experts developed the approach to rank the health risks related to the commodity-pathogen combinations, and assessed the performance of the existing Codex sampling plan for Salmonella against several contamination scenarios.
Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet and are protective against many chronic health conditions. Yet, fresh fruits and vegetables have been consistently implicated in food safety incidents involving microbiological hazards around the globe for decades. In response to requests of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene concerning microbiological hazards in fresh fruits and vegetables and to update and expand the information available in Microbiological hazards in fresh leafy vegetables and herbs (MRA14), which was published in 2008, FAO and WHO convened a series of expert meetings in 2021 to 2022. The purpose of the meetings was to collect, review and discuss relevant measures to control microbiological hazards from primary production to point of sale in fresh, ready-to-eat (RTE) and minimally processed fruits and vegetables, including leafy vegetables. The experts made an effort to update and include any recent trends in commodity and pathogen pairing or pathogen occurrence and presence with a focus on emerging and neglected pathogens. The primary production in open fields was investigated by considering the location, adjacent land use, topography, and climate; prior land use; water; wildlife, animal and human intrusion; soil amendments; and harvest and packing. The experts also worked on: primary production in protected facilities; minimal processing; transport, distribution, and point of sale; and also the gaps in mitigation and interventions measures. The advice herein is useful for both risk assessors and risk managers, at national and international levels and those in the food industry working to control the relevant hazards in the fresh fruits and vegetables. the development of improved mitigation and intervention measures.
Low-moisture foods (LMF) are foods that are naturally low in moisture or are produced from higher moisture foods through drying or dehydration processes. These foods typically have a long shelf life and have been perceived for many years to not represent microbiological food safety risk hazards. However, in recent years, a number of outbreaks of foodborne illnesses linked to LMF has illustrated that despite the fact that microorganisms cannot grow in these products, bacteria do have the possibility to persist for long periods of time in these matrices. Responding to a request from the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) implemented a series of activities aimed at collating and analysing the available information on microbiological hazards related to LMF and ranking the foods of greatest concern from a microbiological food safety perspective. Seven categories of LMF which were ultimately included in the ranking process, and the output of the risk ranking, in descending order was as follows: cereals and grains; dried protein products; spices and dried herbs; nuts and nut products; confections and snacks; dried fruits and vegetables; and seeds for consumption.
Food process engineering, a branch of both food science and chemical engineering, has evolved over the years since its inception and still is a rapidly changing discipline. While traditionally the main objective of food process engineering was preservation and stabilization, the focus today has shifted to enhance health aspects, flavour and taste, nutrition, sustainable production, food security and also to ensure more diversity for the increasing demand of consumers. The food industry is becoming increasingly competitive and dynamic, and strives to develop high quality, freshly prepared food products. To achieve this objective, food manufacturers are today presented with a growing array of new technologies that have the potential to improve, or replace, conventional processing technologies, to deliver higher quality and better consumer targeted food products, which meet many, if not all, of the demands of the modern consumer. These new, or innovative, technologies are in various stages of development, including some still at the R&D stage, and others that have been commercialised as alternatives to conventional processing technologies. Food process engineering comprises a series of unit operations traditionally applied in the food industry. One major component of these operations relates to the application of heat, directly or indirectly, to provide foods free from pathogenic microorganisms, but also to enhance or intensify other processes, such as extraction, separation or modification of components. The last three decades have also witnessed the advent and adaptation of several operations, processes, and techniques aimed at producing high quality foods, with minimum alteration of sensory and nutritive properties. Some of these innovative technologies have significantly reduced the thermal component in food processing, offering alternative nonthermal methods. Food Processing Technologies: A Comprehensive Review, Three Volume Set covers the latest advances in innovative and nonthermal processing, such as high pressure, pulsed electric fields, radiofrequency, high intensity pulsed light, ultrasound, irradiation and new hurdle technology. Each section will have an introductory article covering the basic principles and applications of each technology, and in-depth articles covering the currently available equipment (and/or the current state of development), food quality and safety, application to various sectors, food laws and regulations, consumer acceptance, advancements and future scope. It will also contain case studies and examples to illustrate state-of-the-art applications. Each section will serve as an excellent reference to food industry professionals involved in the processing of a wide range of food categories, e.g., meat, seafood, beverage, dairy, eggs, fruits and vegetable products, spices, herbs among others.
In 2020, the 43rd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission approved the “Development of Guidelines for the Safe Use and Reuse of Water in Food Production” proposed at the 51st Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene. To support this work, JEMRA was asked to provide scientific advice on sector-specific applications and case studies for determining appropriate and fit-for-purpose microbiological criteria for water sourcing, use and reuse in fish and fishery products from primary production to retail. This report presented the outcome from the JEMRA meeting, which includes the: situation analysis concerning water use and reuse in the production and processing of fish and fishery products, analysis of case studies for different risk-based water use and reuse processing scenarios and species, water quality monitoring and the use of non-culture based microbiological methods, recommendations concerning the safety and quality of water used in fish production and processing, and critical research gaps and policy developments.
In response to a request from the 52nd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), the FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) convened this meeting, to collate and assess the most recent scientific information relating to the control of non-typhoidal (NT)-Salmonella spp. in chicken meat. The assessment included a review of the Codex Guidelines for the Control of Campylobacter and Salmonella in Chicken Meat (CXG 78-2011). The Campylobacter will be reviewed by another meeting. The expert consultation noted that no single control measure was sufficiently effective in reducing either the prevalence or the level of contamination of broilers and poultry meat with NT-Salmonella spp. Instead, it was emphasized that control strategies based on multiple intervention steps would have the greatest impact on controlling NT-Salmonella spp. in the broiler production chain. This report describes the output of this expert meeting and the advice herein is useful for both risk assessors and risk managers, at national and international levels and those in the food industry working to control the hazard in poultry.
