There have been rapid technological developments with different antimicrobial systems in recent years, covering product washing, incorporation into packaging and food contact surfaces, nanotechnology and natural preservatives. However, there is much confusion about how different uses of antimicrobials are controlled by different pieces of legislation.

To address this issue, Campden BRI is holding a seminar on antimicrobials on May 26 at its Chipping Campden site.

“This seminar will look at which antimicrobials are being developed for use in the food industry, how they are used, and how they are regulated,” said Campden BRI event director Lynneric Potter. “Case studies will address specific antimicrobials and evaluate their potential to prolong quality shelf-life and reduce food poisoning.”

Cut costs and improve functionality

In a separate development, Dutch contract food research organisation NIZO has discovered that synergistic interactions between natural preservatives can reduce the cost in use, while improving overall functionality.

For example, the natural protein lactoferrin – known to exhibit antimicrobial activity – almost completely inhibited growth of E.coli when combined with thymol: the active component in the essential oil, thyme oil.

This opens up great opportunities for the use of such compounds in fresh foods, meat and feed.

Wastage due to breakage or defects are common occurrences in chocolate manufacturer, according to Steimel, with the resulting residual amounts of chocolate and other ingredients such as cookies, nuts, raisins or cereals traditionally having to be disposed of rather than reused.

Steimel, a manufacturer of pumps chocolate and cocoa mass, showcased its new Schoko-Polar centrifuge at Pro Sweets in Cologne last month and the company said it has conducting trials with the technology over the past few months in collaboration with chocolate producers and a range of product types.

Markus Heiligers, a spokesperson for Steimel, told ConfectioneryNews.com that as a result of this testing phase and the amount of raw material recovered, the manufacturer estimates the return on investment for its new centrifuge to be around three to six months.

He said that many experiments with different products by well-known manufacturers have shown that it is perfectly possible to recover up to 90 per cent of the chocolate used in the rework.

The German developer said the Schoko-Polar can be used with products that combine chocolate with cookies, nuts, raisins, cereals or other ingredients, and all components of the centrifuge that come into contact with the product, it continued, are made of stainless steel and meet food hygiene requirements.

Steimel said that the centrifuge is available as a manually operated machine, and can also be integrated in a fully automatic system when large quantities are required to be processed.

The Schoko-Polar is available in three sizes, it added, and can be modified to suit a particular product, while all centrifuge parameters such as temperatures, speeds and centrifugal times are freely adjustable.

Steimel said that its pilot plant can be availed of for product testing, where confectioners can also seek advice about the rework technology from the facility’s trained personnel.

The study, Health-Related Costs from Foodborne Illness in the United States, examined healthcare, workplace and other economic losses in reaching the multi-billion dollar figure.

The latest estimate dwarfs a previous widely cited annual amount of just under $7bn because this only included costs from five of the most prevalent pathogens and did not take into account “the substantial pain and suffering cost that accompany a case of foodborne illness”, said author Dr Robert L. Scharff, a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) economist and current Ohio State University assistant professor. The report concluded that even when pain and suffering losses were excluded, the cost to society was $103bn a year.

“The contribution of this study is that it provides more complete estimates of the health-related cost of foodborne illness in the United States by summing both medical costs (hospital services, physician services, and drugs) and quality-of-life losses (deaths, pain, suffering, and functional disability) for each of the major pathogens associated with foodborne illness,” he said. “This cost includes both expenses to the person made ill such as pain and suffering losses and costs to others in society such as outlays by insurance companies that pay medical expenses.”

Fresh and processed food

The report found that fresh, canned and processed produce accounted for around 19.7m of the reported documented foodborne illnesses, costing a total of $39m in economic losses. Each case costs an average of $1,960, with California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania the states worst hit. This compares to an average overall cost per case of $1,850.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates there are a total of 76m foodborne illness cases across the US each year, leading to 300,000 hospitalisation and 5,000 deaths.

In additional to national data, the report outlines breaks down costs by pathogen and state. Larger states have a higher total cost – with California, Texas, New York and Florida agains topping the list. However, the picture changed when cost per case was examined with Hawaii proving most expensive at $2,088, followed by Florida at $1,984, Connecticut and Pennsylvania at $1.949. Kentucky, at $1,731, had the lowest cost per case in the nation.

View a state by state breakdown via the following link

The research also found that some food borne diseases elicited a higher cost than others. Listeria moncytogenes had a total economic cost that was almost half that of Campylobacter. This was despite the fact there were more than 400 times fewer Listeria cases than Campylobacter.

PSP said it hoped the report would help policymakers put food safety in its proper context.

“An up-to-date cost analysis of foodborne illnesses is critical for FDA officials and lawmakers to craft the most effective and efficient reforms,” said Jim O’Hara, PSP director. “A decade ago, we spent more than $1.3 billion annually to try to reduce the burden of foodborne illness and today we are spending even more. We need to make certain we are spending limited funds wisely and hitting our target of reducing sicknesses and deaths, and this study gives us a yardstick to measure our progress.”

Four of the deaths occurred in Austria, where the health ministry said this week that its research had narrowed down the source of the cases to Prolactal’s acid curd cheese. German health authorities have also confirmed that two people died after contracting listeriosis from cheese made by the dairy company.

Reacting to the announcements, Prolactal, which is owned by Artax Group, said its executive management is “deeply shocked” by the cases.

When the correlation between Prolactal cheese and the listeriosis cases first arose in January this year, Prolactal initiated a complete product recall throughout Europe.

The cheeses “Reinhardshof, Harzer Käse, 200g” and “Reinhardshof, Bauernkäse mit Edelschimmel, 200g”, which were stocked in Lidl supermarkets, were removed from shelves at the end of January.

Investigation

Austrian health authorities said a painstaking investigation involving investigators trawling through old shopping receipts was necessary to establish the link between the cheeses and the listeriosis cases

Prolactal has stopped production at its Hartberg site in Styria. Production will only begin again once the causes have been full clarified. An examination into the causal links between the listeria monocytogenes found in the cheese and the occurrences of illness is still ongoing.

Prolactal, which had sales revenues of €65m in 2007, said it has never experienced events with “even the vaguest similarity” in the 50 years that it has been producing acid curd cheese.

The Austrian health authorities said a total of 45 cases of listeria related illness were reported last year in the country, 11 of which resulted in death.

Listeria is a bacterium that can contaminate a range of foodstuffs from plants to meats and dairy products, and cause listeriosis in humans. The Austrian health ministry said the disease, which causes headaches, vomiting, and fever, can be particularly dangerous for the elderly. Around one in four cases result in death.

The voluntary code aims to give clear information about country of origin on packs of pork, bacon and ham. It was drawn up by the Pig Meat Supply Chain Task Force – a group representing processors, pig producers, retailers and the food service sector.

The code will be used to guarantee that the country of origin of the pork used in processed products will be clearly displayed on the pack. Under the guidelines, terms such as ‘Produced in the UK’ will be viewed as ambiguous if the meat’s origin is not clearly explained. Companies adhering to the new code have committed to providing clear information such as ‘Produced in the UK using pork from country X,’ said the UK Government.

Stewart Houston, chairman of pork body BPEX, said: “Clear labelling is great news for everyone in the supply chain, easier choice for consumers, more sales of British pork products for the retailer, benefiting both the producer and the processor.”

The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) also welcomed the initiative.

“We support the aim of the guidance in providing clear and consistent labelling for the consumer and welcome an outcome which does not restrict trade or the ability for manufacturers to flexibly source ingredients,” BMPA legislation and technical manager Elizabeth Andoh-Kesson told FoodProductionDaily.com

Production definitions, such as ‘outdoor bred’ and ‘outdoor reared’ are still being finalised and an announcement on how these could be incorporated into labelling is expected in the near future.

Government Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said the new code would “end the nonsense of unclear country of origin labelling on pig meat products”.

“I expect all major retailers to sign up and join those who have already decided to end the confusion for shoppers,” he added. “If they don’t, their customers should ask them why they’re not in favour of clear, honest labelling.”

A string of major retailers including supermarket giants Asda, Marks and Spencer, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, The Co-operative and Waitrose have all signed up to the initiative. The Task Force will now bid to encourage more retailers to join them before the code goes live in April.

Code summary

The key elements of the country of origin code include:

• A commitment to clearly display the country of origin on retail packs;
• Where single country of origin is displayed it means that the pig was born, reared and slaughtered in that country;
• The term “produced in the UK” will not be used without qualification of the origin of the pork;
• The use of national terms and symbols (such as flags) will mean that the pork comes from that country;
• Product specific terms such as Wiltshire Cure will mean that the pork used to make the product comes from within the UK. If not the origin will be clearly stated;
• Imagery that could imply UK origin will only be used on UK origin product, otherwise there will be a statement of origin on the pack;
• Food service outlets will make origin information readily available to customers such as on the menu, in literature or on company websites; and
• Where the term “local” is used it will be clearly defined.

The consortium, Grimsby Seafood Village, will use the money to build processing facilities, for which it is waiting to receive planning permission. “We have £1.4M funding in place but the grant was needed to ensure the scheme stacked up,” said Gary Cadey, joint md of Grimsby Seafood Village. “It’s been a long road to get to this point but our patience, determination and belief in the project has paid off.”

He said he hoped that planning permission would be granted as soon as possible because the contractors were in place to start building the facility. The first phase will see the opening of a processing factory, with offices and storage. Phase two will see the addition of cold stores and a distribution centre.

The European Fisheries Fund provides EU financial assistance to support the sector.

Chris Young, organiser of the campaign, which is backed by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food programme, said: “Dusting off and plugging in your bread machine allows you to seize control of your daily bread, freeing you from reliance on factory loaves.”

The National Real Bread Maker Week website will be launched in March for people to view and share bread machine recipes, tips and photos with the chance to win a VIP pass to The Real Food Festival on 8 May. Also, a big bake-off will be judged by an expert panel of master bakers and celebrity chefs.

The campaign is set to take place a week prior to the Real Food Festival in Earl’s Court, London, on 10 May. “Baking Real Bread in a machine with flour from an independent mill is a great way of supporting Britain’s real food producers and knowing what your family is eating while keeping an eye on your budget,” said festival organiser Philip Lowery.

Meanwhile, as part of National Mills Weekend 8-9 May, traditional wind and water mills around the country will be inviting visitors to picnics, classes, competitions and other activities to help get the best out of locally milled flour bread machine loaves.