PMA Fresh Connections Food Safety An Insiders Guide

PMA Fresh Connections: Food Safety An Insiders Guide to CPS 2014 Research Turning Information Into Knowledge June 26, 2014 Newport Beach, California PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Agricultural Water • Complex Issue • Key Produce Safety & FSMA Issue • CPS Issue Brief Available Preventive Controls: • Monitoring • Treatment • Application to Harvest Interval • Understanding & Predicting Water Microbial Quality PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Safe & Sustainable Water – Taking Care of a Vital Resource! • Water is a precious resource!!!! (especially out west) • How to Safely: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle? PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Agricultural Water - Monitoring • Low quantities of Salmonella can be found in water samples collected from irrigation ponds in the Southeast. (Wright & Vellidis) • Low correlation between Salmonella and indicators. (Wright) • Low correlation between indicators and STEC (Critzer) • Bank sampling represents overall pond water quality. (Vellidis) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Agricultural Water - Treatment • Zero Valent Iron (ZVI) Not right for every situation, but a useful tool to reduce contaminated irrigation water. (Kniel) • Evaluation of multiple disinfection methods to mitigate the risk of produce contamination by irrigation water. (Buchanan, University of Tennessee – Work in Progress) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Ag Water - Application to Harvest Interval • Survival of generic E. coli and Salmonella during water cessation, curing & harvesting of bulb onions. (Waite-Cusic) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Agricultural Water – Understanding & Predicting Microbial Quality • Low numbers of Salmonella found in SE irrigation ponds. (Wright & Vellidis) • <50% of Salmonella strains wildlife-associated. (Wright) • Surface runoff is more frequently positive for Salmonella and E. coli than ponds. (Vellidis) • STEC relatively stable in pond until large rain event (2+ inches) (Critzer) • How do pathogens and indicators partition in rivers, lakes, ponds and canals? (Gibson) • QMRA: Is there an App for that? (Rock) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment QMRA v QMRA ≠ Industry Risk Assessment = Hazard Analysis v QMRA: Risk Characterization= • Probability of adverse health consequences • Severity of adverse health consequences René François Magritte PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment QMRA Pathogen Exposure • • Initial Dose: How many? Prevalence: How often? Change in Dose: Do pathogens grow/die off? Consumption: Serving Size, Frequency, Demographic? Example Pathogen partitioning in ag water after a rainfall event? (Gibson) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Transference to Produce – Ag Water • Can splash from overhead sprinkler irrigation systems contaminate produce? (Vellidis) o Work in progress but seem directly proportional to distance from the ground. • Does drip irrigation prevent contamination? (Critzer) o Drip Bare Ground (20%) vs Drip Plasticulture (12%) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Transference to Produce – Wild Animals • White tail deer: 2% E. coli O 157: H 7 prevalence in ME. (Wu) • Pathogen dispersal occurred more in riparian corridors. • Pathogen dispersal and prevalence were greater in more forested landscape. • Deer are much more important than birds. (Wiedmann) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Transference to Produce – Animals • Wild rodents are Salmonella vectors but not STEC’s in SW. (Jay Russell) • Terrestrial Animals (feedlot cattle, feral pigs, javelina) are more likely reservoirs of Salmonella and STEC than birds. (Jay-Russell) • Nut Orchard Gradient (prior to harvest) from adjacent poultry and calf operations but infrequent isolation of Salmonella (Harris) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Transference to Produce – Soil Amendments • Salmonella has increased thermal resistance in partially composted (desiccated) chicken litter. (Jiang) • One size fits all approach to thermal processing chicken litter won’t work. • Must consider materials used: • Age (Fresh vs Aged) • Composition • Moisture Content PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Transference to Produce – Postharvest • Low Salmonella prevalence in raw pistachios but elevated prevalence in floater stream (Harris) • Narrow range of Serovars ≈ possible resident population (possible post-hulling contamination) • Wood vs Plastic Fruit Storage Bins & Cleanability (Killinger) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Postharvest Interventions • Thermal inactivation of pathogens on cantaloupe surfaces is possible but may cause rind scald (variety and maturity dependent (Suslow) • Ozone can be used to control postharvest cross contamination from wash water (Suslow) • Direct measures of wash water antimicrobial oxidative stress are possible (Nitin) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Testing: Attention Please Whole Genome Sequencing A New Gold Standard • What is it? • What can it do? • Why should I care? Rapid Testing (Ge) • Better • Faster • Cheaper Validation • Surrogate (Teplitski) PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Conclusions • Networking • Adding to a body of knowledge. • Leads to informed decisions. o Company Food Safety Plans o Industry Guidance o Regulations • Leads to fewer produce safety concerns. • Next Steps o Integrating CPS Learnings into Action PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Converting Research into Food Safety Practices: • • • Understanding Education Planning Validation Implementation Verification PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION

Thank You Bob Whitaker BWhitaker@pma. com Jim Gorny JGorny@pma. com Johnna Hepner JHepner@pma. com Cyndi Neal CNeal@pma. com PRODUCE MARKETING ASSOCIATION