afety and nvironmental Aspects in Food Processing

Dr. Wong Kam Huei

Food Safety - Introduction

• three key elements ensuring that the food safety is achieved in food manufacturing– safe design of the process, recipe and packaging – safe design of the process, recipe and packaging

format– prerequisite programmes or good

manufacturing practice to control the manufacturing environment

– use of the HACCP system of food safety management

Food Safety – Safe Design

• Important to understand the criteria involved in designing and manufacturing a safe product:– Food safety hazards – ingredients, processing and

handling methodshandling methods– Intrinsic factors involved in developing a safe recipe– A thorough knowledge of the chosen food processing

and packaging technologies– Manufacturing in a facility operating to prerequisite

good manufacturing practice systems– Management of production within the framework of a

validated HACCP programme

Food Safety – Safe Design

Safe Design - Food Safety Hazards

• Food safety hazards are contaminants that may cause a food product to be unsafe for production and consumptionproduction and consumption

• Type of hazard:• Biological – pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoan

parasites• Chemical – mycotoxins, pesticides, allergenic

materials, heavy metals, dioxins, cleaning chemicals• Physical – glass, metal, stones, wood, plastic, pests,

intrinsic natural materials

Safe Design - Food Safety Hazards

• At product design stage – important to understand the likely hazards that might be encountered in the chosen ingredient types, or that might be present chosen ingredient types, or that might be present in the processing environment –allows development team to identify – to control, to prevent the entry of these hazards, to destroy, to reduce the contamination level –no longer poses a food safety risk – link to GMP and HACCP to ensure everyday control

Safe Design – Intrinsic factors

• Are the formulation criteria that control the ability of microb to survive and grow in foods

• the most commonly used factors are water • the most commonly used factors are water activity, pH, organic acids and preservatives

• organic acids such as acetic, citric, lactic and sorbic acids - preserving factor

• Table 10.2 shows the pH limit and aw limit for growth of pathogens

Safe Design – Intrinsic factors

Safe Design – Food Processing Tech

• Thoroughly understood - effectively controlled• Table 10.3 shows the effects of various food processing

techniques on food safety hazardstechniques on food safety hazards• majority on the prevention fr growth of various foodborne

pathogens; to a lesser extent on the removal of physical hazards; very few for controlling chemical hazards

• therefore very important to source high quality ingredients that are free fr chemical hazards

Safe Design – Food Packaging Issues

• The chosen packaging type should also be evaluated as part of the ‘safe design’ process

• involved in preventing contamination and ensure • involved in preventing contamination and ensure achievement of desired shelf life

• may be hazard considerations if inappropriate to the type of food or proposed storage conditions

• Table 10.4 lists a number of considerations for choosing a safe packaging system

GMP

• Good Manufacturing practice or prerequisite programmes provide the hygienic foundations for any food operation

• internationally accepted requirements for • internationally accepted requirements for prerequisites are defined in the Codex general principles of food hygiene

• Box 10.1 shows the section headings fr this Codex document

• they form the hygiene foundations on which the HACCP System is built to control food safety every day of operation

HACCP

• Hazard analysis and critical control point• a method of food control based on the prevention

of food safety problems• a system that looks at what can go wrong at each • a system that looks at what can go wrong at each

step in the process and builds in control to prevent the problem fr occurring

• internationally accepted approach to food safety management

• based on the application of seven principles - how to develop, implement and maintain a system Box 10.2

HACCP

HACCP

• the logic sequence for application of HACCP– Step 1 Assemble HACCP team– Step 2 Describe product– Step 3 Identify intended use– Step 4 Construct flow diagram– Step 5 On-site confirmation of flow diagram– Step 6 List all potential hazards, conduct a hazard

analysis and consider control measures– Step 7 Determine CCPs– Step 8 Establish critical limits for each CCP

HACCP

• the logic sequence for application of HACCP– Step 9 Establish a monitoring system for each CCP– Step 10 Establish corrective actions– Step 11 Establish verification procedures– Step 12 Establish documentation and record

HACCP

Environmental Aspects - Intro

• Waste is inevitably produced - its volume is proportional to the resources consumed

• Waste is defined in UK legislation as:– ‘any substance which constitutes a scrap material or an

effluent or other unwanted surplus substance arising fr the application of any process”. Further defined as: “any substance or article which requires to be disposed of as being broken, worn out, contaminated or otherwise spoiled” or “that the holder discards, intends to or is required to discard”.

Environmental Aspects - Intro

• Processed food wastes constitute one of the largest fractions of municipal waste these days

• Initial results fr the study of Environment Agency - the food, drink and tobacco sector contributes 8-- the food, drink and tobacco sector contributes 8-11 x 106 t year-1 to the industrial/ commercial total of 70-100 x 106 t year-1

Environmental Aspects - Waste

• The quality and quantity of wastes produced depend on the type of food being processed

• estimated - ~21% of food product at the • estimated - ~21% of food product at the farm gate is lost, much due to spoilage, and only about 7%, on an average, is lost during processing

• food processing operations - many varied types of wastes that can be categorised into solid, liquid and gaseous wastes

Environmental Aspects - Waste

Environmental Aspects - Waste

• Solid wastes– the unnecessary leftover fr the preliminary processing, residues

generated as an integral part of processing, wastes resulting fr processing inefficiencies, sludge produced fr treatment of wastewater, containers for the raw materials and finished productswastewater, containers for the raw materials and finished products

• liquid wastes– waste water fr using water as a coolant, water produced by diff

processing like washing, trimming, blanching and pasteurising; fr cleaning equipment

• gaseous wastes– dust pollution; volatile organic emissions; gases discharged by

combustion of fuels

Environmental Aspects - Waste

Environmental Impact of Packaging Wastes

• The key environmental issues related to food packaging are:– the use of packaging materials like plastics and steel – the use of packaging materials like plastics and steel

which are either nonrecyclable or uneconomic to recycle

– the use of substances in the packages having high chemical and biological oxygen demand which cannot be discharged safely into natural water streams

– the use of material intensive packaging, which requires an energy-intensive process to manufacture

Environmental Impact of Packaging Wastes

• Packaging waste management is to reduce the use of packaging to a minimum level at all stages

• can be achieved by:– decreasing the weight of material used in each pack– decreasing the weight of material used in each pack– decreasing the size or volume of the package or using less material

in the first place– using consumable or edible package– modifying the product design, e.g. avoiding unnecessary multiple

wrapping of a product with diff materials– packaging materials recycling - 2 major obj.

• conserve limited natural resources• to reduce and rationalise the problems of managing municipal solid

waste disposal

Refrigerants

• Refrigeration systems are essential for the production, storage and distribution of chilled foodschilled foods

• commonly used refrigerants -chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) and hydrofluorocarbons (HCFC)– global warming– depletion of ozone layer - no protection of UV

Refrigerants

Energy Issues Related to Environment

• Energy consumed by food and drink industry, in most countries, is a significant proportion of the total energy used in manufacturing industries - UK - ~one-tenth

• energy consumed - to keep food fresh and safe for consumption - processing, storageconsumption - processing, storage

• the burning of fossil fuel - emission of large amounts of CO2 - 1st greenhouse gas - 2/3 of global warming; methane CH4 2nd green house; nitrous oxide N2O 3rd; other greenhouse gases, e.g. CFCs, HCFCs….

• Minimise - slow down the emission of these gases - limited use of electricity and fuel - use of combined heat and power or renewable energy - solar radiation, wind, sea waves and tides, biomass, etc.