Considerations and Risks Associated with Vacuum Packing

Good morning everyone,

I am a new user of this forum.I hope one of you can help me to clear my doubts.
I am working in a hotel as hygiene officer. My issue is we are doing in house vacuum packing for portioned fresh fish/meat and also cooked ( fully/ partially)cooled soup ,fish items and storing in the chiller for 1 week at less than 5 degree Celsius. and in freezer for about one month.(-180C)
I know clostridium botulinum can be one possible chances of contamination.
Please let me know the hazards associated with this?
how can we use vacuum machine properly?(things to be taken care?)
Is there any special process and storage requirementsrequirements of vacuum packed products.?
Maintenance and cleaning of vacuum machine?
Is there any approved procedure for vaccum packing?
Do I have to write a haccp plan for vaccum packing?

Thanks in advance for your replies
Anie

Good morning everyone,

I am a new user of this forum.I hope one of you can help me to clear my doubts.
I am working in a hotel as hygiene officer. My issue is we are doing in house vacuum packing for portioned fresh fish/meat and also cooked ( fully/ partially)cooled soup ,fish items and storing in the chiller for 1 week at less than 5 degree Celsius. and in freezer for about one month.(-180C)
I know clostridium botulinum can be one possible chances of contamination.
Please let me know the hazards associated with this?
how can we use vacuum machine properly?(things to be taken care?)
Is there any special process and storage requirementsrequirements of vacuum packed products.?
Maintenance and cleaning of vacuum machine?
Is there any approved procedure for vaccum packing?
Do I have to write a haccp plan for vaccum packing?

Thanks in advance for your replies
Anie

Can anybody help Anie?

Dear Anie / Simon,

IMO, the vacuum packing is an OPRP so you really should control it with job descriptions and hygiene / handling controls. Of course, the fact that you vacuum it do generally extend the product shelf life but that depends very much on the infrastructure / maintenance standards i.e. cross contaminations etc

Vacuum packing does remove most of the oxygen within the packaging material but not all so the issue of reduced oxygen impact is still there unless MAP is used. A HACCP Plan is therefore not necessary but if you feel it is, there is no harm.

However, cooking soup and reducing the temperature quickly to the safe temperature zone within the shortest possible time frame is indeed a critical process step.

Therefore, determining the CCP for the process of cook, freeze and re-cook is vital. So really, your main concern IMO is here.

Regards
Charles Chew

Dear Anie,
We have had many discussions about this issue in hotels in Dubai.Vacuum packing has become increasingly popular as a method of extending the shelflife of food products without adversely affecting the quality. Vacuum packaging is a highly effective way of preventing food spoilage, but can create conditions which may lead to growth of anaerobic organisms (organisms that grow better in the absence of oxygen), such as Clostridium botulinum, which is able to multiply and produce toxin at chill temperatures as low as 3.3oC.

In addition to C.botulinum, it has been recognised that for certain vacuum packed foods, i.e. those with a shelf life of 10 days or less, other food poisoning bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes may be of greater concern.

The temperature you are maintaining is sufficient to control C.botulinum for 10 days.

Please note that pH, water activity and treatment before packaging also plays a major role.

1.For soups with low pH, C.botulinum wont be a risk.

2.If you are packing raw fish, make sure that the quality of fish is good.

3. I am sure you wont keep raw foods for more that a week in UAE.

You can check Food Code ( FDA) to know more about the process.

Bobby Krishna

Food Inspector

Dubai

Thanks Charles / Bobby. Anie was this helpful to you?

Thanks a lot simon,charles & bobby
hope one of u will be able to help me to clear a few points more
The procedure of vaccum packing,like the temp ,pressure specifications for particular food items or is it same irrespective of the items packed

Thank u in advance
Anie

Dear Anie,

Regarding the HACCP significance of vacuum packaging for Fishery products, you may find the USA/FDA conclusions interesting at this link (bit old now but probably still valid) -

http://www.cfsan.fda...m/haccp4c3.html

Also the detailed chapter specifically on C.botulinum here –

http://www.cfsan.fda...mm/haccp4m.html

Regarding the actual process mechanics, I suggest you look for a model HACCP plan on IT, eg some examples for fish products are here –
http://www-seafood.u...haccp/Plans.htm

but these are a bit old (ca 1998). You will see that they contain lit.refs regarding necessary temp.controls for MAP etc but I’m sure there must be newer evaluations available. Hopefully some current user will suggest or confirm/expand the helpful previous comments in this thread.

The fact is that it’s necesssary to make theoretical/experience generalisations to start the subject off but the actual detailed process conditions are often critical in themselves (more often in the negative sense unfortunately).

There is another recent thread here with an extract from CFIA regarding things to monitor in MAP packaging, couldn't find it immediately, will come back with it.

Rgds / Charles.C

Dear Anie,

In a hotel setup, I dont think you need to worry much about the specifications of vacuum packing.
Ensure that the pack is properly sealed and store the food at appropriate temperature.

Good practices:

1. All products vacuum packed must be as fresh as possible

2. Ensure all equipment in direct contact with the food products is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected

3. The vacuum packing machine must be thoroughly cleaned prior to use, and in between using it for raw and cooked.

4. Chill storage temperatures (8oC and below), will be a critical control point throughout the products production chain, however the lower the chill temperature the better, e.g. below 5oC, as growth of all food poisoning and spoilage micro-organisms will be reduced.

5. Ensure the vacuum packing machine is in good working order and has had regular maintenance checks - documentation should be kept.

6. Ensure every packet is suitably and sufficiently sealed.

7. The age of the vacuum packed product should be easily identified to ensure correct stock rotation is being maintained

8. i.e. preferably date marked with date of production, in addition to the packaging

9. Vacuum packing more than once must be avoided, as it becomes impossible to assess the shelf-life for the product.

10. It is essential that any out-of-date chilled vacuum packed product be discarded, even if it appears organoleptically acceptable. Foods containing psychrotrophic C.botulinum, which are stored beyond their designated shelf-life or are subject to temperature abuse, may allow the production of lethal quantities of toxin without the food showing any signs of spoilage.

11. Vacuum packaging can also be safe for food that will be stored frozen. However, proper thawing under conditions that minimize bacterial growth – like refrigeration – would be essential. If the package stays closed during thawing, you still have a vacuum environment where pathogenic bacteria can be active if the temperature is warm enough.

Hi Anie,

I just want to add only one thing : I totally agree with Bobby, you have to be very cautious about using the vacuum packing machine. If you are the only one person who use the machin, that's ok, because you seem to be very serious.

But if several people use this machine, be careful because of human factor, the learning and the awareness of employees; you can have the best raw materials, a well-cleaned machine, if your employees don't respect the main rules of hygien, you probably will have serious issues in spite of your cares.

Consequently I think you have to explain to everybody who is able to use the machin the main rules of hygiene, and you have to check the good practices.

That is just my opinion about this point, vacuum packing is a great way of improving your shelf life, but you have to control all the parameters to succeed in this improvement, first of all human factors.

that's all for me!

Regards,

Emmanuel.

Dear Anie,

Re my comment in previous post regarding other threads - link is -

http://www.ifsqn.com...amp;#entry17531

However this is primarily aimed at MAP packaging although some characteristics obviously overlap.

Anyway, Best Regards / Charles.C

Hi all, 

 

sorry just a question that's probably not related to what Annie is asking but I'm wondering if it's really necessary to vacuum-pack finished food products such as soups and sauces? Can't it just be ordinary sealing without vacuum packing? 

 

Also, would like to gather some feedback on which would be a better practice or better process flow, either : - 

 

(A) cook -> pack product while still hot/lukewarm within 2 hours -> blast freeze -> storage

(B) cook -> portioning to small pots for faster cooling -> blast freeze to below 20C -> pack -> storage

Hi all, 

 

sorry just a question that's probably not related to what Annie is asking but I'm wondering if it's really necessary to vacuum-pack finished food products such as soups and sauces? Can't it just be ordinary sealing without vacuum packing? 

 

Also, would like to gather some feedback on which would be a better practice or better process flow, either : - 

 

(A) cook -> pack product while still hot/lukewarm within 2 hours -> blast freeze -> storage

(B) cook -> portioning to small pots for faster cooling -> blast freeze to below 20C -> pack -> storage

 

Hi clover,

 

From a purely micro. POV, IMO it's best to freeze cooked product directly after cooking and as rapidly as possible (recommended maximum times to reduce temperature to < XdegC exist).

The practical limitation on speed is often on equipment capacity / layout / presentation of product.

IMO, the vacuum packing is an OPRP so that you truly must control it with job descriptions and hygiene / coping with controls. Of route, the truth that you vacuum it do commonly make bigger the product shelf existence however that relies on machine like coffee machine you see the details upon very tons on the infrastructure / upkeep requirements i.E. Pass contaminations and so forth

IMO, the vacuum packing is an OPRP so that you truly must control it with job descriptions and hygiene / coping with controls. Of route, the truth that you vacuum it do commonly make bigger the product shelf existence however that relies on machine like coffee machine you see the details upon very tons on the infrastructure / upkeep requirements i.E. Pass contaminations and so forth

 

Looks like a copy of post #3. Why do this?