From the entire We R Food Safety! team to you and yours, have a relaxing, happy Christmas extended weekend! Here's hoping you're all finding time to wind down and enjoy the holiday despite the insanity that has been the past year. And here's hoping that you're not missing many, if any, of those you love this holiday.
Happy Holidays to you all!
As families finish their Christmas shopping this week, one item on their list is likely something for their table. In previous years, before the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these families may have gone to their local supermarket to find the holiday ham, turkey, or roast that would become the center of their Christmas traditions. This year, with small businesses being among those hardest hit by the financial repercussions of the pandemic, consumers have given new life to the ‘shop local’ movement.
Rather than picking
up their celebration’s main course at the nearest chain grocery store,
consumers are choosing to support their neighborhood businesses. With demand in
an upswing, many of our smaller clients are asking: How do we safely produce all
this product before the holidays?
"Christmas hams display - Woolworths QV" by avlxyz is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Following these tips will help processors avoid cooling deviations — and better deal with those that occur — during the high-volume period before the holidays. Consumer trends have changed — the pandemic has brought many shoppers to the local, small processor’s doors for the first time. Supplying them with a safe and delicious Christmas dinner could keep them coming back well after the pandemic is over.
One significant issue we see leading up to the
holidays most years is an inability to keep product cold. While trying to fulfill
the additional demand, businesses may feel pressured to overload their
refrigerated storage areas. Unfortunately, cramming all that product in the coolers
and freezers limits air flow in those spaces and raises the overall
temperature. When this occurs, “Fully Cooked Not Shelf Stable” and “Heat
Treated Not Fully Cooked Not Shelf Stable” product is unable to cool per the
FSIS Appendix B Stabilization Guideline parameters, resulting in a cooling
deviation.
Cooling deviations not only represent a potential food-safety
hazard, they also typically snowball into further hardships for the processor. Deviated
product likely will be placed on hold pending pathogen modeling, test results
or other forms of analysis. This can last multiple days, during which the
product cannot be further processed or sold. This slows inventory turnover
rates and may force changes to the processing schedule, since cooler space is occupied
by product that was originally intended to be sold/shipped. Once the snowball
begins rolling down the hill, it becomes difficult for the processor to meet
its processing goals.
Thankfully there are a few tricks that businesses can
employ to keep their product cold and still take advantage of the uptick in
holiday demand! First, as mentioned previously, load coolers and freezers only
with the appropriate amount of product. Keep product well-spaced so that cold
air can move throughout the refrigerated area easily. If refrigerated storage
space is a limited resource within a facility, management may decide to utilize
offsite refrigeration, such as refrigerated trucks or other close by processing
facilities.
Second, anticipate that cooling deviations may
increase during this season and take preventive measures to help to resolve
deviations quickly. Whenever I am faced with analyzing a cooling deviation, I cross
my fingers that there is an abundance of data. Automated temperature probes are
a great way to collect large quantities of data, and I suggest that processors
use them to monitor both the internal temperature of the product and the
temperature of the refrigerated space. All this data helps processors be more
confident that their decision to either test, recook, throw away, sell, etc.,
is the right one.
Finally, processors can mitigate losses by segregating
deviated product from non-deviated product immediately. By separating these
batches, the facility can continue to fabricate, package and sell product that
is safe for human consumption, and keep only possibly unsafe product on hold. This
keeps the processing schedule on track so that there is minimal time loss
caused by the deviation.
"Christmas Ham" by nforcr is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
— Molly Linden, Food Safety Consultant, molly@werfoodsafety.com
Although it seems to be happening at a snail’s pace for me,
we are wrapping up what seems to be the longest year experienced for many of
us. When the calendar pages get this low in number, many people begin to
reflect on the happenings and what it means for the future. Along those lines, I
have been able to reflect upon the takeaways from 2020.
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| "coronavirus-covid-19" by Nursing Schools Near Me is licensed under CC BY 2.0 |
The pandemic has brought long days and late nights for many processors,
including our clients: trying to keep up with the increased demand of product;
ensuring harvesting and processing schedules remain on time and fluid; keeping
their eyes open with longer-than-normal work hours; ensuring the health of
their employees and families remains a priority; among so many other important
things.
All this increased client stress has trickled to our team at
We R Food Safety: running deviation reports, bringing new clients on board more
quickly than is typical, writing what seems to be an exponential amount of NR
appeals, etc. We have also been busy behind the scenes to aid in ensuring safe
meat products are able to be produced at our client facilities across the country.
This isn’t a negative reflection or a gripe about increased
workload. In fact, in the end, I am incredibly grateful to be a part of such an
outstanding team and to be able to help processors across the U.S. get through
their roadblocks in these ultra-challenging times. I’m also very proud of our
clients and our team here for navigating through these issues as we have. For
me, one of the most rewarding aspects of working on this team is the capability
to help reduce food waste in this country through pathogen modeling, sampling, regulatory
knowledge, and identifying when a product or production date ultimately is
related to a food safety hazard. Being able to state that our daily work contributes
to fighting the food waste epidemic is extremely fulfilling.
Yet, the 2020 calendar year is near an end, and although we
may be hopeful for what 2021 will bring, it is important that a commitment to
produce a safe and high-quality product consistently remains the key focus. My
team and I will be here to help that happen now and in the New Year!
· -- Abbey Davidson, Food Safety Consultant, Abbey@wrfs.pro
Hi all, and welcome to our new blog: Food Safety Insights by We R Food Safety!
In past years, we've tried to develop a blog and because of our phenomenal, and growing, client list and needs, it has fallen by the wayside. Now that we have brought on a communications professional, however, you can expect to see entries on a regular basis.
We R Food Safety is devoted to helping processors make the safest, highest-quality food possible, keeping consumers safe at the end of the day. We know that regulations and rules change frequently, and that there can be sticking points and hidden roadblocks in the world of food-safety regulation. The industry must abide by the rules and keep people safe, but sometimes the rules can be a bit unclear. It's our job to help you find clarity and direction when others cannot.
We will post a new blog entry every week, written by our staff of industry experts -- people who have been and still are in the industry, seeing and dealing with the challenges you face, understanding the role We R Food Safety can play in helping alleviate that stress and strain.
Enjoy the blog and let us know what you think!
-- Andy Hanacek, vice president of Communications, andyh@werfoodsafety.com
