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This information can be used to develop food safety and quality programs that meet the requirements of modern Regulatory, Customer and Industry Standards:
When considering the development, documentation and implementation of Food Microbiology Management within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
A minimum of a basic understanding of Food Microbiology Management is an elemental requirement for food industry personnel who participate in the development, implementation and review of HACCP plans and finished product testing among other food safety and quality management system elements. This ensures that relevant microbiological hazards are effectively controlled and do not impact upon the safety or quality of finished food products.
Bacteria are everywhere in our environment. Most are harmless and are used to make foods, such as yogurt. Others are spoilage organisms that sour and rot foods. A few bacteria become a threat to our health when they grow and reproduce; these are commonly known as microbiological pathogens. Sources of these bacteria include soil, water, air, dust, edible plants, plant products, animals, animal products, intestinal tracts of humans and animals, employee’s hands and contaminated food utensils and equipment. A common misconception is that food is free of bacteria that cause food borne diseases when it reaches the establishment or after processing.
Another common misconception is that healthy employees do not harbor harmful bacteria. Healthy humans commonly have their own natural population of bacteria, and some are the variety that causes food borne diseases. High percentages of the population are carriers of bacteria that cause food borne illness. In this context, sick employees are carriers of greater numbers of organisms that cause food borne illness.
Bacteria require nutrients. These are essentially foods to provide the basic elements for their growth. These nutrients include carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, sodium, magnesium, iron and manganese. Before bacterial growth can occur, other essential requirements must be favourable, such as temperature and the level of oxygen of the bacterial growth environment.
Bacterial growth refers to the increase in the number of organisms. This process is accomplished by Binary Fission, whereby the bacterial cell splits to form two cells. Bacterial growth can be very rapid. It may occur at a frequency of every 20 minutes in optimum conditions, but not until conditions are just right for the type of bacteria involved. There are four phases bacteria go through within their life cycle. It is important to understand what takes place at each phase of the bacterial growth curve to be able to target effective control points for bacteria within structured food safety and quality program.
When bacteria are introduced to food, there is usually an adjustment or lag period. During this time there is considerable biochemical activity but no increase in the number of cells. The lag phase can be from a few hours to days. When conditions are right for the type of bacteria involved, rapid growth commences.
This is called the logarithmic or log phase because the bacteria double their number by cell division, some at a rate of every 20 minutes. This rapid growth stage is generally not appreciated until it is illustrated. The following example shows how bacteria can multiply rapidly under ideal conditions with 216 bacteria cells:
This example demonstrates how starting with 216 bacteria and with a 20-minute doubling rate, after 4 hours and 20 minutes there would be over 1 million bacteria.
After a period of rapid growth, bacteria numbers reach the levelling-off stage as their nutrients are used up and waste accumulates. Foods contaminated by bacteria at this level and beyond are usually spoiled because of the bacterial activity and are generally unacceptable from a purely organoleptic viewpoint including flavour, aroma, texture and appearance.
At this point, the food is no longer suitable for supporting growth and the bacteria die.
Because of the unique survival capabilities of bacteria, it is important to limit their growth in food as much as possible. Bacteria have a maximum and minimum range of temperature for growth, which varies from one type to the next. The following classification of these temperature ranges is summarised is provided as an example of bacterial profiling:
Pathogens can be transferred from one food to another, either by direct contact or by food handlers, contact surfaces or the air. Raw, unprocessed food should be effectively separated, either physically or by time, from ready-to-eat foods, with effective intermediate cleaning and where appropriate disinfection. Access to processing areas may need to be restricted or controlled. Where risks are particularly high, access to processing areas should be only via a changing facility. Personnel may need to be required to put on clean protective clothing including footwear and wash their hands before entering. Surfaces, utensils, equipment, fixtures and fittings should be thoroughly cleaned and where necessary disinfected after raw food, particularly meat and poultry, has been handled or processed.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Food Microbiology Management Development requirements in relation to their items.
Document: A document provides guidance and / or direction for performing work, making decisions, or rendering judgments which affect the safety or quality of the products or services that customers receive.
Documented policies, procedures, work instructions and schedules form the basis of any food safety and quality management system. The following documentation formats may be considered to ensure ongoing compliance with specified requirements for Food Microbiology Management:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Food Microbiology Management Documentation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Food Microbiology Management Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Food Microbiology Management documentation, record and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Implementation: Implementation is the application of documented food safety and quality system elements into the actual business operation.
The implementation of Food Microbiology Management within any food business requires genuine commitment from senior management, staff and visitors to ensure the nominated goals of implementation are achievable on an ongoing basis. It is a step which requires significant planning and consideration of general and specific food business circumstances to ensure the outcomes of Food Microbiology Management do not negatively impact upon the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Food Microbiology Management must include the clear definition of responsibilities and authorities for all levels of participation by senior management, staff and visitors to the site.
When implementing Food Microbiology Management within a food safety and quality system, you may wish to consider the following requirements prior to completion:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Food Microbiology Management Implementation requirements in relation to their items.
Monitoring: Monitoring is the act of reviewing and confirming measurable parameters of a defined process or product status.
Monitoring requirements within food industry sectors are generally identified against limits of acceptability defined within HACCP plans, implementation procedures and work instructions. Monitoring usually includes some element of record-keeping, which may be maintained manually or through digital systems. It is important to consider that advancements of technology have spawned many systems and processes which are self-monitored and or self-adjusted when variances are identified. Regardless of the system used; The goal of any monitoring activity is to provide sufficient evidence that any limit of acceptability has been met.
Traditional Food Microbiology Management monitoring requirements include manual recording and the application of corrective actions when the results of monitoring are found to be outside acceptable limits. Corrective Actions should also generally be strongly linked to the monitoring process where applied to ensure full traceability of the applied actions.
Common monitoring activities and record formats may be applicable to Food Microbiology Management:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Food Microbiology Management Monitoring requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Food Microbiology Management Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Food Microbiology Management documentation, record and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Corrective Action: Corrective action is mandatory action to be taken when a deviation to the Quality System occurs, particularly in relation to a Critical Control Point.
Preventative Action: At any step in the process where a hazard has been identified, preventative action must be put into place to prevent re-occurrence.
Corrective Action and Preventative Action is implemented to ensure that any identified non-conformance issues are documented, investigated and rectified within appropriate time-frames. Corrective action is any action applied to regain control over a product, process, policy or procedure that has been identified as being non-conforming or outside nominated limits of acceptability. Preventative action is any action applied to prevent any identified non-conformance from reoccurring.
The outcomes of corrective and preventative actions should result in regained process control after effective application. Specified corrective actions are commonly linked to the HACCP Plans and to the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Food Microbiology Management related non-conformance:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Food Microbiology Management Corrective Action requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Corrective Action and Preventative Action section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Verification: The act of reviewing, inspecting, testing, checking, auditing, or otherwise establishing and documenting whether items, processes, services, or documents conform to specified requirements.
Verification is the detailed review of all food safety and quality system elements to confirm that they are effectively developed, documented, implemented, monitored and reviewed. It is important that all food safety and quality system elements, including documented policies, procedures, training, HACCP plans and their operational applications are verified on an ongoing scheduled basis. The verification process commonly includes a defined schedule for which verification activities are required, how often they are conducted, who is responsible and detailed documented procedures for each nominated verification activity.
The general goal of an established verification process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time-frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact upon the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
The following examples of verification activities may be applicable to Food Microbiology Management:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Food Microbiology Management Verification requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Verification Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Validation: The process of gathering evidence to provide a scientific basis for the documented act of demonstrating that a procedure, process and activity will consistently lead to the expected results. It often includes the qualification of systems and equipment.
Validation is the provision of evidence to support the limits of control or acceptability for food safety or quality parameters nominated within systemic elements. Limits of control or acceptability are commonly included within documented food safety and quality system elements such as procedures, HACCP plans and specifications.
Common sources of validation include regulatory and legislative standards, finished product specifications and customer requirements, industry codes of practice and guidelines, verified and validated research, historical product and process control outcomes and analytical testing.
The general goal of an established validation process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time-frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact upon the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
Validation activities are commonly defined within the verification schedules and procedures of established food safety and quality management systems.
The following examples may be applicable to validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Food Microbiology Management:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Food Microbiology Management Validation requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Validation Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Skills and Knowledge: Skills and knowledge are attributes of human interactions commonly linked to competency within any specified job related task.
Training and competency requirements for Food Microbiology Management must be ongoing, including regular scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Food Microbiology Management should have knowledge including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Food Microbiology Management should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Food Microbiology Management should have access to resources including:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Food Microbiology Management Training, Competency and Resources requirements in relation to their items.
You may wish to visit the Training, Competency and Resources section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
haccp.com was created to support food businesses and food industry professionals in achieving and maintaining the stringent requirements of food industry compliance.