Fresh produce (PHFs) sanitation

My G.M wants us to start sanitizing fresh produce on receiving then store it sanitized and ready to use for RTE products.

Products like lettuce leaves ,all berries, melons, fruits  and a vegetables that are cooked.

As QA I know this is a bad idea and I need convincing (food safety based) facts to kill the idea before he implements it.

I'm not in the fruits and veggie business but I would think sanitizing couldn't hurt with all the contaminants coming in from other countries.

In your defense here is an article from the FDA stating "Washing fruits and vegetables with soap, detergent, or commercial produce wash is not recommended."

https://www.fda.gov/...-produce-safely

Annette

Well how does your Hazard analysis look like??? Your HACCP plan? 

Annette, The food scientist,

Thank you for your replies.

I am currently scouring the HACCP plan to see exactly what it says.

I will post on here what it says..

Annette, The food scientist,

 

Thank you for your replies.

I am currently scouring the HACCP plan to see exactly what it says.

I will post on here what it says..

Many companies use chlorinated water (a validated process).

Yes check your HACCP and keep us posted! 

My G.M wants us to start sanitizing fresh produce on receiving then store it sanitized and ready to use for RTE products.

Products like lettuce leaves ,all berries, melons, fruits  and a vegetables that are cooked.

As QA I know this is a bad idea and I need convincing (food safety based) facts to kill the idea before he implements it.

This is a bad idea because contamination can happen during storage, microbes can multiple during storage time etc, so if the already sanitized fruits/vegetables gets contaminated, there is no way to reduce the microbial load before using it on a RTE. Also based on my experience with fresh produced, these vegetables wilt easily after sanitization, so we always sanitized just in time prior to use or our internal shelf life for sanitized vegetables is 24 hours.

Majoy,

Thank you.That's more like it. That makes sense.

Still looking at the HACCP plan

Thanks Majoy...

yeah i do not think it is a good idea. i will say you put something in your HACCP that specifies that in the biological part because of the environmental pathogens like air born. just my humble opinion.

I use to work in a fresh cuts plant and we use to sanitize berries, inside their clam shells and then pack them in small boxes that where closed. and they will get distributed in 1-2 days. 

I deduce this thread is referring to a "packinghouse" process.

Statistically, IIRC, this item (in RTE form) is in the top 10 of USA's high risk food products.  The reason is simple - historically accumulated data.

The options presumably also relate to what treatment has happened before reception and what the incoming micro data actually looks like regarding pathogens.

There are several threads on this forum relating to treatments of fresh produce (possibly pre-harvestgate) with antimicrobial systems.

We use Peracitic Acid (PAA) for our fruits and veggies prior to storage