Environmental Listeria

Hi Everybody,
This is my first contact with the group.  My company manufactures acid and low acid foods in cans and glass bottles.  We bring in the fresh vegetable, sort, wash and preserve in brine before converting to a final product.  My concern is that we do not maintain a dry floor policy and there is traffic between the vegetable sorting area and the rest of the plant.  Would environmental Listeria be a concern for the product?

Thanks for your response.

Chaconia

Hi Everybody,
This is my first contact with the group.  My company manufactures acid and low acid foods in cans and glass bottles.  We bring in the fresh vegetable, sort, wash and preserve in brine before converting to a final product.  My concern is that we do not maintain a dry floor policy and there is traffic between the vegetable sorting area and the rest of the plant.  Would environmental Listeria be a concern for the product?

 

Thanks for your response.

Chaconia

Dear Chaconia,

it depends what you mean by a "concern"

if you are asking whether L.mono / Listeria is present on the product before canning, quite possibly due to the raw material since l.mono is externally, environmentally ubiquitous (have you checked for it?).

But unless present in abnormal amounts, I imagine it will be "eliminated" in the  canning process since it is non-sporulating.

I also assume you have some hygienic controls to prevent cross-contamination via boots etc ?

Some operations segregate the first stage of processes due to its  frequent "messiness"

Rgds / Charles.C

Thanks for the response Charles,  Listeria not found in product,  The hygenic control you mentioned are absent.  We are working on implementing these.  I'm still unsure though.  If the product is filled directly from the cooking vessels and either retorted (cans) or hot filled into bottles with steam injected into the head space, is there a likehood of cross contamination, bearing in mind the absence of the hygenic controls?

Chaconia

Dear Chaconia,

Sorry, I don’t know enough about yr process / equipment / layout to answer these queries.

I believe  some typical minimum requirements in canning are to use quality raw material, a validated sterilization process, appropriate monitoring controls and ensure a hygienic environment. Sort of HACCP 101.

Lack of any of the above can cause problems.

If you are worried about environmental listeria , I suggest you do some swab testing.

Rgds / Charles.C

Will do the swabbing to put to rest any fears.  Many thanks Charles.

Chaconia

It would probably be advisable that you developed an environmental monitoring program for your facility. You say you're not finding listeria in your product. By implementing an EMP you'll be taking steps to keep it out of your product. Here's a nice little PowerPoint primer on the subject:

http://oregondairy.o...g-ahead-ENV.pdf

Many thanks esquef.  This has been soo helpful.

Chaconia

Dear esquef,

Many thanks for the attachment.

It’s truly an impressive document but I fear it will require a small army to use it ? Only in the USA ?

Slightly :off_topic:  (apologies to Chaconia)

Another amazing thing to me is that a country which designs / implements such  rigor with respect to sanitation still, as I understand it, happily opts for / eats undercooked hamburgers.

True or not ?

Rgds / Charles.C

Charles,

We could not implement in its entirety, but the logical approach is what is valuable.  One thing stood out for me is that we are not high risk as there is no opportunity for contact post the kill step.  But my team is being guided by the details. 

Chaconia