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 Investigation and Control of Pathogens in Dry Foods and Dry Food Processing Environments Real problems / Real answers On October 6-7, 2008 in Minneapolis, MN, Kornacki Microbiology Solutions, Inc. hosted this workshop for quality assurance professionals, corporate and plant microbiologists, sanitation managers, food safety inspectors, maintenance managers and engineers, laboratory managers, process engineers, HACCP coordinators, and operations managers and supervisors. We plan to offer a similar course in early 2009, location to be determined. For more information, contact us.  What participants gained from this conference The conferene provided information on how to ...
Participants learned how to effectively control pathogenic microorganisms in a food processing facility through environmental, ingredient and finished product sampling and interpretation of microbiological data. Part of our focus was to take the confusion out of the sampling process. In addition to many practical applications, the “big picture” of food safety was presented. Classroom group exercises were used to reinforce concepts taught. The course is based on decades of real world industry experience.  Industries covered ... included cereal products, dry non-sterile infant formula, snack foods, jams & jellies, peanut butter, butter, margarine, crackers, breads, nuts, dried fruits, dried vegetables, confections, chocolate, any other dry or low water activity food processor, shipper or distributor.  Course schedule Continental breakfast and lunch provided both days Monday, October 6, 2008, 8 am to 5 pm Session 1: Introduction: Dr. Jeffrey Kornacki - 45 minutes Introductions of instructors and attendees and introduction to course: The extent of microbial foodborne illness in America, Consequences: Health, recalls, down time, lawsuits, lost market share, Examples of food contamination (general types of organisms), Significance of invasive food pathogens (e.g. Salmonella spp), Significance of toxigenic food pathogens (e.g. Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus), The significance of toxico-infectious food pathogens (C. perfringens). Session 2: Update on Foodborne Illness in the US Associated with Dry Foods – CDC, Dr. Arthur P. Liang - 45 minutes Session 3: General Principles of Food Microbiology: Factors Which Influence the Growth, Survival and Death of Microorganisms –Dr. Kornacki – 1 hour An escalating discussion beginning with a basis introduction to the principles of food microbiology culminating in considerations related to thermal destruction of microbes. Session 4: (Enterobacter sakazakii) Microbiology of Dry Milk Products and Powdered Infant Formula - Dr. PC Vasavada - 1 hour Lunch (12:00 noon to 1:00 PM) Session 5. How Microorganism Become Established In Factory Environments: How they Evade HACCP and Other Quality Assurance Plans – Dr. Kornacki- 1.5 hours The significance and factors that result in microbial growth niches and biofilm development in the food processing factory environment will be discussed along with why HACCP alone in not enough to guarantee food safety, and how microbes "set up shop" and contaminate foods after Critical Control Points. Most examples will be given in the context of dry food processing environments. Session 6: Sampling the Environment and Equipment – Dr. Kornacki -1 hour Suggestions for sampling supplies will be made and the advantages, disadvantages and uses of various sampling techniques (sponges, swab, contact plate, air sampling, ATP bioluminescence), and in-line sampling (where to sample) will be described along with the value of pre-operational, operational and post-operational swabs. A demonstration of techniques will be given. Session 7: To Test or Not to Test Legal considerations by a food industry attorney.  Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 8 am to 4 pm Session 8: Microbial Control: Where and How Raw Ingredient and Finished Product Testing Fit into the Big Picture-An Understanding of Microbiological Sampling Criteria - Dr. Kornacki - 2.5 hours This will provide answers to the questions: How many samples should I take? What is the value of retesting? Are there guidelines to establishing an appropriate microbiological criterion for my ingredients and finished product? What is the value of retesting? How to I appropriately challenge laboratory data? Session 9: In-Factory Investigation and Sampling-Dr. Kornacki – 1 hour Understanding the situation and the process (getting the facts), Determine the extent of product contamination ("scoping" the problem), Determine the production schedule, Touring the plant and tentative sample site selection, Assembling the sampling team, Maintenance, Quality assurance, Scribe, Prepare operations personnel for disruption, Smashing paradigms (prepare to be thorough), Examples of investigations done Session 10: Starting Up Operations After Being Shut Down: Personal Experiences - Dr. Kornacki -45 minutes When to start up again: principals and suggestions, (Examples of approaches that have worked), Hold and test considerations, HACCP and CCP revalidation (and the place of surrogate microorganisms), and the use of indicator organisms Lunch (12 noon to 1 pm) Session 10: Molecular Subtyping Approaches for In-Factory Investigation – Speaker: Dr. Mark Moorman, Director, Food Safety, Kellogg's, Battle Creek, MI - 45 minutes Session 11: Final Work Group Exercise – Dr. Kornacki - 45 Minutes Wrap up, questions and adjournment  Instructors
Kornacki Microbiology Solutions hosted the conference.  JEFF KORNACKI Dr. Jeff Kornacki brings to the table three decades of experience in professional food safety microbiology. In addition to real world experience troubleshooting in 500 food processing facilities, he serves as an expert witness, is frequently published and lectures widely on microbiological control in food processing environments. He has also assisted a number of companies in the midst of FDA and USDA product recalls. He earned his Ph.D. From the University of Wisconsin and served as Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety and Department of Food Science. He remains an adjunct faculty with the University of Georgia Food Science Department and Michigan State University's National Food Safety & Toxicology Center.  SHAWN K. STEVENS Shawn K. Stevens, a member of Gass Weber Mullins, defends and counsels clients nationwide in product liability and food-borne illness lawsuits. He has worked nationally with numerous food companies (including one of the nation's largest meat producers, national restaurant chains, and several food distributors and grocers) in the defense of food-borne illness matters. In the last eight years, Mr. Stevens has defended claims in more than a dozen states (including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin), has represented clients in major outbreak litigation (including outbreaks and cases involving E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Clostridium Perfringens, Staphylococcus and Norovirus), and has also assisted with crisis management and other issues in advance of and following major food product recalls. In addition to his focus on food safety litigation, Mr. Stevens has also developed wide-ranging civil litigation experience, defending clients in product liability, environmental, insurance, commercial and medical malpractice disputes.  ARTHUR LIANG Arthur Liang is Director of the Food Safety Office, at the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-borne & Enteric Diseases. He is a former CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer and former chief of the Communicable Disease Division, Hawaii Department of Health. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods and is the CDC advisor to the Board of Directors of the Association of Food and Drug Officials. He is also a member of the Preventive Medicine Residency Advisory Committee for the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine.  MARK MOORMAN Mark Moorman, Ph.D., is the Senior Director of Food Safety & Food Chemistry for the Kellogg Company in Battle Creek, MI with responsibilities for the safety of the global portfolio of Kellogg products. Prior to joining the Kellogg Company in 1998, Mark spent 10 years with Silliker Laboratories as the Technical Director of Microbiology responsible for assisting clients with microbiological food safety and quality issues. Mark has his undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees from Michigan State University in Microbiology and Food Science.  PURNEDU C. VASAVADA Dr. Purnendu C. Vasavada is a Professor of Food Science at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and Food Safety and Microbiology Specialist with the UW-Extension. His teaching and research interests include rapid methods in microbiology, food safety and quality assurance, milk quality, dairy products technology and cultured dairy products. Dr. Vasavada has authored more than 100 publications, including peer-reviewed research papers, book chapters and abstracts and invited articles in professional and trade publications and is the book, “Beverage Quality and Safety”. For the past 28 years Dr. Vasavada has organized the annual UWRF Food Microbiology Symposium: Current Concepts in Foodborne Pathogens and Rapid and Automated Methods in Food Microbiology and has been an invited speaker and/or convener at international conferences, workshops and symposia dealing with rapid methods and automation in microbiology, food safety and microbiology, food quality assurance, HACCP and TQM and food science education. Dr. Vasavada has educated thousands of Food Industry professionals through numerous short courses and workshops in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, U.K. Ireland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Turkey, and most recently, in India. He is active in several scientific associations including the International Association for Food Protection, the Institute of Food Technologists, the Wisconsin Laboratory Association and has served as the chair of the IFT- Food Microbiology Division, Chair, American Dairy Science Association’s (ADSA) Dairy Foods Division, the president of the WLA and the WAFP (formerly WAMFS). Dr. Vasavada has served or is currently serving on the editorial board of the Food Protection Trends (formerly, Dairy Food and Environmental Sanitation), J. Rapid Methods and Automation in Microbiology, J Food Protection and the Food Quality magazine. He has received the Joseph Mityas Laboratorian of the Year Award (1987) Certificate of Merit Award (1989), the Elmer Marth Educator award (1997) and the WAFP Sanitarian of the year award (1998). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the IFT Distinguished Lecturer and Honorary Life member of the Hungarian Society for Microbiology. Dr. Vasavada holds a B.S., M.S and M.Sc. degrees in Microbiology and a Ph.D. in Food Science and Dairy Technology from the University of Georgia. He is currently spending a part of his sabbatical leave from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with the 3M Microbiology.  Dr. Jeff & Wanda Kornacki For more information, contact us. |