6 replies to this topic

[Escherichia coli]

Hello Food Safety People, 

 

Good day!

 

I work in an inflight catering facility with large-scale operations. Recently, we received a complaint from one of our airline clients regarding a plastic contaminant found in one of the meals we produced. As part of their corrective action requirements, the client has requested that we implement a formal decanting procedure.

 

While we do practice decanting in our facility, it is not strictly or consistently implemented. The concept itself is also relatively new within our organization, and at the moment, we do not have a formally documented procedure in place.

 

In response to this request, I need to develop a documented decanting procedure. However, one of the challenges I am facing is the lack of clear standards or specific guidelines related to decanting practices in catering operations. I have reviewed the IFSA and QSAI standards, and there are no specific requirements related to decanting mentioned in these standards. Although I can base the procedure on our current processes and practices, having a good reference would greatly help ensure that the procedure is more robust and aligned with industry expectations.

 

Thank you!

[GMO]

Go back to risk.

 

Where did the foreign material come from? Where are other physical contaminants likely to come from as part of your decanting process? What processes could reduce or increase risk?

 

So for example your decanting process might have things like:

• Bag opening processes, how to cut (e.g. the whole bag off or just half way?), what to cut with, how to inspect everything is present at the end.
• Tub opening processes, if there's a removable tamper evident tab, how to remove it, when and where, how to make sure it's accounted for?
• How waste is collected and checked by a supervisor.

 

I'm sure you can think of more. But just go back to the risks, how those risks can be mitigated, then put in a procedure.

[Tony-C]

Hi Escherichia coli,

 

What are you decanting? and from what sort of container?

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[Escherichia coli]

Hi GMO, 

 

That makes sense, starting from the risks, I’ll map out each step and build the procedure around controls to prevent them.

 

Thank you for your insight.

[Escherichia coli]

Hi Tony, 

 

We carry out decanting of various food ingredients used throughout the kitchen during pre-preparation, cooking, and portioning stages. These include plastic ingredient sachets, canned and jarred products, as well as plastic containers, primarily made of LDPE and HDPE.

 

For context, the plastic contaminant mentioned in my original post is the quality seal surrounding the cap of a mayonnaise packed in HDPE bottle.

[GMO]

Ah ok, then each one of those processes will have a risk. How do you mitigate it with the choice of how you open, how do you reconcile that each has not contaminated after opening.

 

A key area I didn't mention in my previous post which is brought to light by your specific incident. I suspect the operator knew or suspected the contamination but they didn't speak up. So whatever you do with this procedure, I'd also include that there's a no blame / no fault approach if someone speaks up if an issue occurs and it's all in your control. Or something along those lines. You need to make sure that if a mistake is made that people feel ok about coming forward and admitting it.

[Tony-C]

Hi Tony, 

 

We carry out decanting of various food ingredients used throughout the kitchen during pre-preparation, cooking, and portioning stages. These include plastic ingredient sachets, canned and jarred products, as well as plastic containers, primarily made of LDPE and HDPE.

 

For context, the plastic contaminant mentioned in my original post is the quality seal surrounding the cap of a mayonnaise packed in HDPE bottle.

 

Hi Escherichia coli,

 

That contamination is avoidable, ideally you would have a tamper evident seal that remained attached so didn't fall off and become a foreign body risk.

 

As GMO has indicated I would revisit your Food Safety (HACCP) Plans and look at the packaging and any risks associated with the decanting processes. You can then take actions to reduce the risk such as above or ensure that there are control measures in place to prevent such product contamination. This would then be reflected in your amended decanting procedures.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony