18 replies to this topic

[Bertie_2013]

Hi all,

I am working on a HACCP plan for a pasta sauce containing meat (beef).
At the moment the sauce is boiled for over 10 minutes, manually poured into 600g plastic pots and lidded, and then moved to the chiller (4ºC).
The chiller is a walk-in chiller and the refrigeration unit can be set to achieve temperatures below freezing

My questions is should we:
a. Let the sauce cool to an intermediate temperature (20–45ºC) in the big pot on the stove before filling and lidding the plastic pots
b. Pack the soup while it is still hot and transfer directly into the chiller
c. Pack the soup while it is still hot, and then wait until it has cooled before transferring into the chiller

As I understand it, cooling to below 10 °C is required within 4 hours to ensure that any micro-organisms surviving the heating process, or introduced during cooling, do not grow.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks,

S

[Gourav]

Hi all,

I am working on a HACCP plan for a pasta sauce containing meat (beef).
At the moment the sauce is boiled for over 10 minutes, manually poured into 600g plastic pots and lidded, and then moved to the chiller (4ºC).
The chiller is a walk-in chiller and the refrigeration unit can be set to achieve temperatures below freezing

My questions is should we:
a. Let the sauce cool to an intermediate temperature (20–45ºC) in the big pot on the stove before filling and lidding the plastic pots
b. Pack the soup while it is still hot and transfer directly into the chiller
c. Pack the soup while it is still hot, and then wait until it has cooled before transferring into the chiller

As I understand it, cooling to below 10 °C is required within 4 hours to ensure that any micro-organisms surviving the heating process, or introduced during cooling, do not grow.

Any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks,

S

Hi,
We need to be more specific here.
I ma sure you have validated the cooking time and temperature combination. With cooking time the temperature is also to be specified.
Temperature of what? The temp at the core of the meat chunks needs to be monitored both for the cooking process and chilling process.
Hence the temperature you have mentioned - to be brought to 10 deg C within 4 hrs; it has to teh temp of the meat chunks.
Are youable to achieve the temp of 10 Deg C at the core of meat chunks within 4hours by leaving the big pot at the stove itself (I belive the ambient must be at 30 - 35 Deg C).
A blast chiller might be required to achieve the temperatures. IMO hot filling (Above 60 Deg C) and then rapid chilling is an option but leaving the producta t ambient whether in bulk or portioned is not an option.

Gourav

[Charles.C]

Dear Stilton,

I presume a static chiller of handling capacity X? How big is "sauce main pot"? How many pots chilling at the same time ? Tolerance to burned fingers ? plastic pot melting temperature?

Cooling is typically related to accessible surface area / material(s) thermal conductivity / convection capabilities / temp.difference.

Actually if the sauce has been boiling for 10mins, seems quite likely that the chunks got somewhere near 100degC, even in UK. However I agree that data is lacking.

It's probably initially quicker just to try one lot out with a thermometer. My guess is that (a,b,c) will not work in 4 hours (possibly slightly better to initially transfer sauce to a 2nd pre-cooled, good conducting container, [eg Al/surrounded by ice]) Good luck !

Rgds / Charles.C

[MKRMS]

Stilton,

Your understanding of the cooling process is correct - cooling to below 10ºC must be achieved as quickly as possible: In Ireland within 150 minutes after cooking and no later than 120 minutes after cooling has started. The main reason for this is the survival of C. perfringens spores during cooking. The spores begin to germinate at below 50ºC and can double as fast as every 7 to 10 minutes in temperatures around 43ºC to 47ºC.

Research conducted by Kunea, V.K., Snyder, O.P., and Cygbarowicz-Provost, M. (1994, Journal of Food Protection Vol. 57, No.12, Pages 1063-1067, "Influence of Cooling Rate on Outgrowth of Clostridium perfringens Spores in Cooked Ground Beef") indicates that cooling in a commercial refrigerator is ineffective to control outgrowth of C. perfringens in ground (minced) beef, unless the beef is spread out in heat conductive pans to less than 1 inch thickness. They write: "The performance standard for a reach-in refrigerator in the factory, just off the assembly line, tested in a 37.7°C dry-bulb test room, with the refrigerator door never opened for a 4 h period, nothing in the refrigerator, and a 30% compressor run off-time to allow for defrost, the refrigerator is to hold 3.3°C ± 1.1°C. There is no standard for air velocity. This test standard results in commercial refrigerators that have virtually no cooling capacity. This means that the retail food industry must cool foods in pans < 1 inch deep or put the food in pots in a sink filled with ice, constantly adding ice to the water, and stirring the food every 15min if it is to cool food to7.2°C in<4h(24). It is also possible to use a blast-chiller to cool food rapidly. Blast-chill refrigerators can be purchased for $9,000 to $23,000. However, local health departments have not required that operators purchase and use blast-chillers. Many operators have learned to cover and pan food to a thickness of 2 inches, which results in a 12 h to 14 h cooling time to 7.2°C."
The authors have concluded that at a cooling rate of more than 15 hours from 54ºC to 7.2ºC, C.perfringens has the potential to grow to numbers above 6 log.

Some information on C.perfringens can be found here: http:/www.foodsafety.govt.nz/elibrary/industry/Clostridium_Perfringens-Associated_With.pdf

My answer to your question is: purchase a blast chiller to be able to control cooling effectively.

Matt

Edited by MKRMS, 04 August 2011 - 09:41 PM.

[Charles.C]

Dear MKRMS,

Thks yr detailed info. In fact the once-popular procedure of slow cooling of beef concoctions overnight for re-use on the following day has a legion of documented / sad C.perfringens disasters.

Yr Snyder ref. is quite old.? (Couldn't find an accessible copy + nzfa link [date?] gave an error for me ). I hv seen the "rule" mentioned by stilton in various places but not quite sure as to its source / "current" validation ? (Food Code maybe)

Haven't checked the textbooks but I attach a few later refs which suggest the practical situation can be quite complicated (the conclusions seem a bit fuzzy to me). Not disagreeing with yr comments, just unsure. Maybe you hv a more recent (Irish?) ref more specific / explicitly conclusive ?

 d03 - 2010 haneklaus - 65608.pdf   150.74KB   121 downloads
 d01 - 2001 Steele.pdf   80.63KB   85 downloads
 d02 - 2010 Doyle - cperfsurvivgrow.pdf   274.71KB   91 downloads

Rgds / Charles.C

[MKRMS]

Hi Charles.C:

I misspelled the name of the principal researcher it should have read Juneja, Vijay K. That may be why you were unable to find the article. The link to the abstract is here: Influence of Cooling Rate on Outgrowth of Clostridium perfringens Spores in Cooked Ground Beef

Irish requirements are published in I.S. 340:2007 Hygiene in the Catering Sector and I.S. 341: 2007 Hygiene in Food Retailing and Wholesaling as well as here: Cook-Chill Systems in the Food Service Sector (Publication of Food Safety Authority of Ireland, go to page 8). I believe the restrictive timeframe for cooling is based on research by Blankenship et al.,1988 here: Growth of Clostridium perfringens in cooked chili during cooling.

Thanks for posting the additional material. IMO the limitation of Haneklaus et al (2011) and Steele et al (2001) in this case is that both used large joints of meat as opposed to sauces or ground meat, where the distribution of pathogen is significantly different. Thus, their results may not be valid in the pasta sauce scenario. Nevertheless, both reported some (although less) growth in less time than Juneja. Both articles make reference to Juneja et al., 1994, Haneklaus also makes reference to Blankenship et al., 1988, by the way.

Doyle (2002, p 8) reports Blankenship's et al., 1988 research for C. perfingens growth in Chilli after 2-6 hours depending on temperatures, which makes the recommendations of Juneja et al. appear to be quite long.

Regards,

Matt

[Janvm]

These are the results from my experience (although we can't achieve the minimal cooling neccesary ue to packaging size en inadequate equipment):

- All ingredients are precooked vacuum with pasteurisation values up to 15000 units
- The cooking proces in a closed kettle when combining the ingredients is sufficiently long to gain another 10000 pasteurisation units

At this point the product is as good as sterile

- it is pumped and packaged directly at minimal 80°C (measured in the last package)
- It is held at room temp for 10 minutes (gain another 2000 pasteurisation units)
- It goes into refrigeration and in cooled to 2°C in 12 hours

Micro results show less than 10 CFU / g aerobic.

This is accepted by our veterinary inspector as TINA (but i'm not happy with it due to spore formation, double pasteurisation as mentioned above).

So my preference would be option b, than c.

[MKRMS]

Post deleted

Regards,

Matt

Edited by MKRMS, 05 August 2011 - 02:14 PM.

[Charles.C]

Dear MKRMS/Matt,

Thks for yr comments / links.
I had found an abstract of previous Snyder article but not the actual document.
I hv attached the Blankenship document below (a1-bks).
Luckily, I subsequently located another Snyder document which postdates the Juneja document and which contains a fairly detailed summary of the latter’s contents plus other chronological stuff leading up to the “situation”.

http://www.hi-tm.com...Basic-cool.html

Links for several other directly related Snyder publications ( this guy was certainly prolific in the 90’s!) are also given below. His basic conclusion seems to be that the exact implementation of Stilton’s rule is in many cases simply impractical and in prctice is effectively "circumnavigated".

The Irish “red” series article is very practical and nice. Unfortunately the old but probably best validation in it is only accessible to the rich (Campden).

I must admit i so far find all these documents confusing in respect to any consensus result. It appears that up-to-present a lack of agreement exists on the "real" safety requirements (or the range of possible variables is unhandleable). A little more illumination is revealed in a pair of relatively recent documents although again the “conclusions” are not exactly decisive.

I am assuming that Stiltons quoted “rule” is from paragraphs 3.501.14 – do.19 in Food Code chapter 3–

 a2 - Chapter3 food code - final copy.pdf   1.03MB   63 downloads
(see pgs 83-90)

More interestingly perhaps , there is a detailed content of FDA’s rebuttal of Snyder’s / Juneja’s / various others' criticisms in an associated Food Code Annex - 3.501.14 – do.19 :

 a3 - Annex3 food code - final copy.pdf   1.18MB   57 downloads
(see pgs 405-427)
(this info. is seemingly still [ca.2009] valid in FDA's opinion)

The rebuttal (including with respect to Juneja's paper) is fascinating but very heavy going to read, perhaps not accidentally . The argument(s) seem to revolve around statements that the FDA guidelines must be necessarily conservative and that the criticising documents are based on (variously) incomplete experimental setups (often single variable only) / analyses / purely theoretical logics / inappropriate use of FDA predictive tools / wrong choice of target species etc etc. A (more) readable review of the overall saga is in the 2006 Food safety document below (a8) although the article seems to end up concluding that nobody has presented a credible analysis ! (ie more research necessary ). One 2010 item (eg haneklaus) in my previous post looks to be supporting more lengthy cooling times for the conditions stated, the other is more reserved IMO.

 a8 - Food Safety Magazine2, time-temperature issues.pdf   114.55KB   60 downloads
(curiously I didn’t see any link to the Food Code / FDA rebuttal).

Net result – despite the claimed large discrepancies in various actual situations, official USA opinions seem to hv essentially retained the guidelines of the approx. 2000 period, in some cases to even tighter requirements.

@ Stilton - the Snyder articles a5 - a7 describe ingenious methods to "optimise" cooling speeds however, as far as I can see, the target is nevertheless based on Snyder's own re-interpretations of the safe requirements. The latter are related/extended from Juneja's findings I think (eg see a4). Basically, as i interpret, Snyder is of the opinion that the Food Code requirements are normally unattainable plus in safety logic, un-neccessary.

added - this readable USDA undated article (a9) seems to be their suggested practical implementation of the Food Code cooling requirements (see pg 26 et seq). However I do not see any validation of the procedures in the document plus seems all refs are pre-2000 so treat with caution.
 a9 - USDA, recommended cooking and rapid cooling procedures.pdf   563.74KB   74 downloads

 a4 - snyder - 2inch-4inch-cool-DFES-97.pdf   338.24KB   37 downloads
 a5 - Snyder - cool-1gal-DFES-99.pdf   245.48KB   33 downloads
 a7 - Snyder - Cool-room-temp.pdf   111.07KB   41 downloads

 a6 - bracknell UK - time - hazard-control-chart-example.pdf   107.39KB   72 downloads
(added as a curiosity, not sure if the 2hour limit is an official UK viewpoint?)(similar limits apparently also exist in Canada according to the food safety article?)

Rgds / Charles.C

PS. Just to add a little more confusion, this document from Juneja (a10, 2006+) seems to (now) spell out / analyse the required cooling conditions in terms of the Food Code.
 a10 - cooling - 4_1_Juneja.pdf   2.72MB   76 downloads

PPS - readers of the above will probably conclude that I am unsure of the correctness of any of the cooling guidelines given. They are correct. Considerable geographical opinions seem to exist and possibly equal theoretical disagreements also. It "looks" like that despite all the published, eg Snyder, experiments/theories to the contrary, the "short" time limits as per the Food Code remain in place or are elsewhere even reduced. How closely the practical situation in restaurants etc is monitored is unclear, maybe blast-chiller suppliers hv been the primary beneficiaries.

Any professional input (or otherwise) welcomed.

added later - For those interested in this general topic, a related article focused on cooked rice dish preparation / storage / distribution / usage is here http://www.ifsqn.com...dpost__p__42431

Attached Files

•  a1 - bks - 1104.pdf   784.22KB   52 downloads

[MKRMS]

Hi Charles.C,

Thank you very much for your research effort and great pool of posted material, which will take some time to digest. I think you are correct with your conclusion that internationally there is no single set of cooling requirements and conclusive evidence that could lead to a single best cooling practice seems to be lacking.

It seems to me that the Irish Food Safety Authority took the most conservative view of selecting the shortest time frame that was ever identified for C. prfringens spore outgrowth and built its guidelines around the idea that in the light of a generation time of less than 10 minutes, strictly minimising cooling time is the best insurance policy.

As to time requirements for cooling: it is probably safe to follow more relaxed cooling regimes as well. After all, a high number of viable C. perfringens is needed to cause foodborne illness (around 10^5 to 10^6 CFU). An individual validation of deviating cooling procedures - like Janvm's data - may be acceptable if a deviation from the shortest possible cooling time is desired (e.g. because purchasing a blast chiller is not economically viable), depending on the views of the regulating authority. This requires extensive product-specific micro testing by an accredited laboratory, however.

In any case, I believe that heating and cooling treatments must achieve reliable inhibition of aerobic and anaerobic spore-formers if a shelf life of more than a few hours is to be achieved. Alternatively, the accepted single controls of C. botulinum (pH less than 4.6, aw less than .94 or storage temperature less than 5ºC) can be employed to control this risk. Although C.perfringens toxin is heat labile and can be destroyed by re-heating to above 60ºC for 10 minutes, it seems to require too much consumer compliance to rely on re-heating as an adequate control alone.

I found this document on the UK Food Standards Authority's website:  tempcontrolguiduk.pdf   135.95KB   61 downloads

Unfortunately, this document, too, does not give any specific recommendations as to cooling times and target temperatures. Although its intention is to provide guidance, this document doesn't really explain anything. It seems to me that in the UK it is the food business operator who must provide evidence that the chosen method of cooling is effective and the Authorities stay clear of publishing any specific requirements.

It seems as if stilton has hit a weak spot of both food safety research and qualified guidance in his own country. It seems as if it is necessary to conduct individual (product and process specific) studies to validate the safety of the available process.

Kind Regards

Matt

[Bertie_2013]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for your feedback, very useful!

The sauce won't cool to below 10 deg C in 4 hours in the production area, so we will put the jars in the chiller as soon as they are filled, The chiller is quite powerful and if the jars are stored with plenty of room for air circulation I am confident we will get them down to the required temperature.
We are doing a trial batch tomorrow so will monitor temperatures throughout the whole process,

Kind Regards,

Stilton79

[brucedelta]

Hi All, 

 

I stumbled on this old thread searching for some data and since it is a related question I figured I would see if I could find an answer. I am not an expert but am wondering if a process is possible and worth consulting a process authority and seeking a process approval.

 

Currently, I package a meat sauce in a 10oz jar. The product is boiled 15+ min and hot filled at 195F into a glass jar. We use a cooling tunnel to get it below 100 in under 1 hr. The product is a PH of 4.1 (acidified) and shelf stable in the hot fill glass jar. We also fill a 2L bag with the same standards.

 

I have recently had a request to deliver product in a 55-gallon drum or similar large format container. I envision a Scholle type bag liner for the drum. If we hot fill at 195 there would be no way to meet USDA cooling guidelines with available equipment. 

 

The question I have is if the process can be adjusted in some way to use this type package. It does not have to be shelf stable and for this application, we could deliver refrigerated product in the drum. I do not think there is a viable way to cool it in the drum, but we could run cooling water through the steam kettle jacket and cool prior to filling. Is there a safe process to fill a ph 4.1 meat sauce at a lower temperature?

 

Thanks,

Bruce

[3560lynne]

Good morning,

 

I didn't want to start a new thread and found this one, it's close. We are in the process of re-evaluating our CCP for stabilization, chilling product after cooking.  We are USDA meat processing plant, haccp plan: fully cooked, not shelf stable. A newer USDA stabilization compliance guideline came out June 2017 (not final) and I'm preparing to reassess the haccp plan as a result. I came across this information: USDA supports the following CFIA cooling procedure: 

4.5.1.2 Rapid Cooling Rate

During cooling, the product's maximum internal temperature must not remain between 54°C and 27°C for more than two (2) hours nor from 54°C to 4°C for more than 7 hours.

 

My question is how is this being interpreted? I read nor as the second part of the sentence is an alternative to the first, product's temperature must not remain between 54°C and 27°C for more than two hours OR from 54°C to 4°C for more than 7 hours. Is this thought process incorrect? 

Thank you, Carrie

[Scampi]

Carrie

 

I'll see if I can find the CFIA reg......I've moved on from meat, but I know it's worded much clearer than that

[Scampi]

19.8.2.4.1 Dressed Poultry Carcasses and Parts

Immediately following evisceration and washing, all dressed poultry carcasses shall be chilled according to the following table:

Weight of Dressed Poultry Carcasses Initial Time (hours) to Reach ≤ 14°C Table Note 19 Additional Time (hours) to Reach ≤ 6°C Table Note 19 Additional Time (hours) to Reach ≤ 4°C Table Note 19 Under 1.8 kg 2 2 4 1.8 kg to 3.6 kg 2 4 4 3.6 kg to 5 kg 2 6 4 5 kg to 7 kg 2 8 4 7 kg to 12 kg 2 10 4 Over 12 kg 2 Table Note 20 10 6

 

19.8.2.4.3 Shipping of Carcasses not being Completely Chilled

Dressed poultry carcasses, prior to being chilled to an internal temperature of 4°C, may be shipped from a registered establishment to another registered establishment for completion of chilling provided that:

• Both establishments operate under a HACCP system which includes the chilling of such product;
• The chilling process is continuous, including during transport, and achieves a deep muscle internal temperature of 4°C within the time indicated above;
• Product is not shipped prior to achieving a surface temperature of 7°C or lower; and
• The chilling process results in chilled product which complies with the Pathogen Reduction Program requirements as contained within the section on the US in Chapter 11, Exports, of the MOP.

also, here's the entire link

http://inspection.gc...22787568?chap=7

 

It would appear that the NOR should read as AND you must adhere to both time/temp requirements

 

ALSO note: currently canada has 2 sets of regs one for red meat and another for poultry FYI

Edited by Scampi, 07 August 2018 - 03:38 PM.

[3560lynne]

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my question, Scampi.  I will read the rapid cooling rate requirement as and not or. 

[Charles.C]

CFIA water-chilling table 19.8.2.4.1 is impressively detailed.

 

However i couldn't figure out why the seemingly total difference in "air cooling", eg this quote -

 

19.8.4.1 Air Chilling Time Requirements

Unlike water chilling, there are no time requirements to meet the internal temperature of 4°C or lower as long as the chilling process is continuous and air chill room temperature is maintained at 4°C or lower.

 

 

I do agree the quoted English (/US?) text in Post 13 is confusingly ugly  but actually there is long-established theory which explains the basic reason(s) for such temperature-time partitions (and, effectively, why it must be  "And") .

 

For example see the (older) USDA - related files a9, a10 in Post 9 above, eg - 

 

 two part cooling.png   157.7KB   0 downloads

 

 usda cooling times.png   90.24KB   0 downloads

 

(I assume the USDA times above were for the lower end of the weight range in CFIA Table)

 

Seems that for the product type discussed above, USDA overall times are now to be increased ?

 

 

JFI, from a purely safety POV, might compare the above to this brief international dialog-

 

https://cooking.stac...r-food-use-rule

[3560lynne]

Confusingly ugly, agreed. Makes it a bit difficult to follow guidelines precisely.

[Scampi]

There is some quite through justification for the chilling time/temp requirements water v.s. air chill---I was a poultry gal for quite some time, but man my brain does miss it!!!

 

A--water chillers are virtual cesspools of bacteria (as they are shed from the carcasses once they enter the chiller----new systems use PAA, old systems chlorine MAYBE)  if the time/temps are not followed, you'll actually get exponential bacteria growth

B--water chillers do not do a very good job----water is a horrible medium for adding/removing heat....the heat exchange calculations are not good, then you add hot carcasses to it, and you've now got water chillers that may not be chilling

 

C--unlike red meat which is not harmed by "rot" there is a VERY small window with fresh dressed poultry prior to chilling....the bacteria load tends to be really high by the nature of the process, red meat can be safely trimmed.

 

D-water chilling doesn't allow for a rapid cold crust to form......temperature changes is actually quite slow for the first 2 hours (as per data logger data) so you've still got bacteria growth

 

E-carcasses are rubbing against each other slowing the heat transfer even more

 

F-salt is added to artificially lower the chiller water, but it impedes heat transfer (it also has a nasty habit of breaking cell walls giving you limp poultry that won't crisp up no matter what you do)

 

 

Air chill removes heat AND humidity from the surface of the carcass so rapidly, that the bacteria cells are essentially frozen in time.........the carcass is also wide open where it was eviscerated so you've heat being rapidly removed from the surface and the cavity. So there is no chance (barring mechanical issues of course) of the carcasses warming, the bacteria growth cannot occur OR occurs at an acceptable level

 

CFIA has water make up ratios (amount of fresh cold water) that needs to be added for each carcass at X weight and X temperature

 

Where I was, we could air chill small birds from 90F to 14F in 90 minutes in the blast freezer