The past two days have focused on food security and processing. On Monday we spent our day in the classroom learning about the different types of laboratories in Europe, including but not limited to the European Reference lab, the National Reference labs, and the Official labs. Each lab has a different level of authority involved in testing samples; the European reference lab being the highest authority. One important job of the Official lab is ring testing, during which a National Reference lab will send out samples to Official labs and have them analyze the sample and send back the results to the National lab to ensure testing competencies. We then learned about the different testing methods to identify strains of bacteria such as Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) and Multiple-Locus Variable-Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA). We learned about chemical contaminants in food such as dioxin and PCB. It is important to ensure that neither of these chemicals ends up in the food supply because of their negative effects on human health.
The EU has regulations on the amount of bacteria allowed in the food supply. For example, there is an allowable amount of Listeria monocytogenes in European food- up to 100 CFU/ g. In the USA, a zero-tolerance policy has been designed for food testing for the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. This has clearly put a restriction on trade of certain Italian products on the American market. Italian producers that want to supply foods to America, especially dairy products and ready-to-eat foods, need to comply with USA standards. One of the responsibilities of Reference labs, like the IZS, is to ensure the standards put in place are met, especially for foods on the shelf. In order to ensure that microbiological growth limits in food products are not exceeded while on the shelf, food is put to a challenge test. These challenge tests are designed to test food once it has been put onto supermarket shelves to make sure it continues to be safe for consumption.
One thing particularly interesting is the affect of animal welfare on food quality. The IZS is currently beginning a study to see if poor animal welfare causes an increase in shedding of bacteria and subsequent increased contamination of meat. Data on the effects of heat stress during transport on animals like pigs and poultry shows that there is a negative effect on the meat products produced at slaughter.
On the second day we had the opportunity to travel to a cheese processing plant to observe how cheeses like Pecorino and Caciocavallo were made. Today, while learning about the cheese making process, we were able to focus on the food security aspect. For example, most of the cheeses made on site were created from pasteurized milk to get rid of any harmful pathogens such as Brucella. The establishment was kept clean and workers were required to shower and change clothes before entering the cheese making room. The floors where made of an easily cleanable material and there were no corners to the room which helped to ensure a clean environment. The walls were tiled, again to assist with cleaning. Finally, in order to be accredited to make cheese, the processing plant must keep records on where the milk is coming from so that any food can be traced back by the authorities in case of an outbreak.
One new cheese fact we learned today was that in order to make ricotta, the liquid byproduct from the previous cheese making process is reheated to precipitate out the protein. We were told ricotta means recooked. At this particular farm the protein byproduct from the ricotta making process is fed to the owners pigs so nothing goes to waste!
PennVet Explores Europe 