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Food safety hazards of bamboo skewers

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Madam A. D-tor

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Posted 27 June 2017 - 06:53 AM

Dear all,

 

I have been auditing an importer/ wholesaler of bamboo skewers.

Because the HACCP study was very poor, I came interested in risks related to bamboo and wooden skewers.

 

I have been searching the internet now for a couple of hours, but can hardly find anything useful.

I only have more questions:

- what does the process looks like?

- are sulphur and/ or hydrogen peroxide used (as is suggested on some websites)? And if the answer is yes, how do they get ride of the residues?

- are all skewers steamed before dispatch? (would that not give a deformation of the product?

- which (environmental contaminants) can be in the raw materials of the skewers?

- are there maybe different skewers for different uses? e.g. skewer for fruits or candies might be of another hygiene status than skewers intended to be cooked with meat or fish on it. 

 

I hope there is some one here with more knowledge about the process and hazards of producing skewers.

Process of toothpicks, disposable chopsticks and ice sticks may be comparable.

 

Warm greetings to all, from the Netherlands.

 


Kind Regards,

Madam A. D-tor

Madam A. D-tor

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Posted 28 June 2017 - 07:12 AM

Is there no one here with knowledge/ experience about bamboo or wooden skewers, cutlery, utensils, chopsticks, toothpicks, etc.


Kind Regards,

Madam A. D-tor

Simon

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Posted 28 June 2017 - 08:41 AM

The weekly newsletter (including all new topics) goes out today Madam A. D-tor, so hopefully you will get a response.

 

Regards,

Simon


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Charles.C

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Posted 28 June 2017 - 12:32 PM

Hi Madame A.D-tor,

 

Nice to hear from you.

 

I suspect there are a large variety of processes potentially  involved. U-tube for example.

 

I  previously have had some experience with bamboo skewers as used for raw seafood kebabs.

IIRC the flowchart included a boiling stage. Offhand I don’t recall any bleaching stage, eg H2O2 treatment, but not impossible.

(H2O2 would theoretically leave no residues although certain chemicals are often added as stabilizers.)(a fact which came up in an older thread here).

Micro. data, eg APC etc was consistently negligible. An occasional problem was discoloration (inadvertent defect i guess :smile:).

 

What was yr specific item of concern ?


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Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


TJW

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Posted 07 February 2019 - 03:30 PM

Reviving this topic.  Curious if anyone has any further insight as to the food safety hazards relating to bamboo or wooden skewers used for kabob-type products?  Thank you!



Charles.C

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Posted 08 February 2019 - 01:16 PM

Reviving this topic.  Curious if anyone has any further insight as to the food safety hazards relating to bamboo or wooden skewers used for kabob-type products?  Thank you!


Before or After "Treatment" ?

Kind Regards,

 

Charles.C


TJW

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Posted 08 February 2019 - 01:34 PM

Hi Charles, thank you for your response.  My assumption is that the skewers are "treated" somehow by the supplier.  If that is the case, after treatment.



Scampi

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Posted 08 February 2019 - 01:59 PM

so if these videos is any indication.................zero happens to them once they are shaped

 

 

 

And this article says "sterilized" but that appears to be misleading..........it's just done to release the sugar

 

So it would appear that they may be ripe with bacteria/yeast and mold  (particularly once you add in the weather (humidity) of where they are produced)


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