Jump to content

  • Quick Navigation
Photo

Challenge studies using surrogate microbes

Share this

  • You cannot start a new topic
  • Please log in to reply
3 replies to this topic
- - - - -

bornyesterday

    Grade - AIFSQN

  • IFSQN Associate
  • 48 posts
  • 8 thanks
4
Neutral

  • United States
    United States
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Michigan

Posted 18 May 2017 - 04:05 PM

Although I'm not intending on performing one (if I can help it), the idea of performing a challenge study to confirm the reduction in pathogens after baking came up in a number of discussions in regards to validating an oven, both in person as well as in various old discussions on this forum.  Has anyone discussed whether the challenge studies must use the actual pathogens or whether nonpathogenic surrogate indicators (quite a mouthful) are suitable?  I found an article that discusses one such test case, but I'm not sure how common (or acceptable) this practice might be.  Thoughts?

Journal of Food Protection,Vol.79,No.4,2016,Pages544–552  doi:10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-15-241  "Validation of Baking To Control Salmonella Serovars in Hamburger Bun Manufacturing,and Evaluation of Enterococcus faecium ATCC 8459 and Saccharomy cescerevisiae as Nonpathogenic Surrogate Indicators"


“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking."  - Henry Ford

 


FurFarmandFork

    Food Safety Consultant, Production Supervisor

  • IFSQN Fellow
  • 1,264 posts
  • 590 thanks
206
Excellent

  • United States
    United States
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Oregon, USA

Posted 18 May 2017 - 04:15 PM

I'd avoid the challenge study as much as possible and see what time/temps you actually get to first. Use an irreversible temperature indicator in the middle of your fattest products at lowest time/temps and see what you have for internal temp first, then do a literature/legal review to see if it meets an existing standard.


Austin Bouck
Owner/Consultant at Fur, Farm, and Fork.
Consulting for companies needing effective, lean food safety systems and solutions.

Subscribe to the blog at furfarmandfork.com for food safety research, insights, and analysis.

Thanked by 1 Member:

Charles.C

    Grade - FIFSQN

  • IFSQN Moderator
  • 20,542 posts
  • 5662 thanks
1,544
Excellent

  • Earth
    Earth
  • Gender:Male
  • Interests:SF
    TV
    Movies

Posted 18 May 2017 - 08:01 PM

Hi bornyesterday,

 

I suggest for yr peace of mind that  quantitative micro. parameters acquired via challenge studies are frequently allowed to be quoted together with their associated predictive formulae. Lethality-related characteristics/equations are a classic example, eg D/z/F0 values-equations.

 

As per previous post, you likely only have to (practically) worry about process temperature/time which can often be complicated enough already.

 

Of course, the argument as to whether baking is a CCP, PRP, oprp, none of the previous is afaik eternally open-ended.


Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


Thanked by 1 Member:

bornyesterday

    Grade - AIFSQN

  • IFSQN Associate
  • 48 posts
  • 8 thanks
4
Neutral

  • United States
    United States
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Michigan

Posted 19 May 2017 - 12:18 PM

I suggest for yr peace of mind that  quantitative micro. parameters acquired via challenge studies are frequently allowed to be quoted together with their associated predictive formulae. Lethality-related characteristics/equations are a classic example, eg D/z/F0 values-equations.

 

Yes ... I also ran across a 2013 paper (Chen) which discussed how the Weibull model might be used to predict microbial survival patterns using Bill Gates' spreadsheet software ... definitely an area for future reading for me ...

 

I'd avoid the challenge study as much as possible and see what time/temps you actually get to first. Use an irreversible temperature indicator in the middle of your fattest products at lowest time/temps and see what you have for internal temp first, then do a literature/legal review to see if it meets an existing standard.

 

Excellent idea.  What kind of calibration assurances are included with it?


“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking."  - Henry Ford

 




Share this

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users