Progress 02/15/21 to 02/14/25
Outputs
Target Audience:The target stakeholders for this project are: (1) Small and very small meat and poultry processors, defined by the USDA as establishments with 10-499 employees (small) or fewer than 10 employees or annual sales of less than $2.5M (very small). These processors are represented by the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP), which has over 1,400 member companies. (2) Regulators, represented by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS). Our collaborator with the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) has committed to arranging multiple meetings between our team and the FSIS Office of Policy and Program Development, to ensure direct communication and maximum impact of our results on the evolution of the Appendix A guidelines. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students and staff working on this project have been trained in Biosafety Level-2 research methods and have learned industry-relevant techniques for monitoring thermal process conditions and measuring product core and surface temperatures, moisture content, etc. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Updates on project activities and results have been presented at numerous industry workshops / training programs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Overall, this project entailed pilot-scale cooking trials, methods development and testing, model development and deployment, and training/Extension programming - all aimed at improving the ability of small and very small processors to achieve food safety goals for ready-to-eat meat and poultry products. We have focused on products previously identified as scientific gaps by the USDA FSIS, particularly as related to achieving and documenting the lethality of Salmonella on product surfaces. Although our prior work has shown that increasing processing humidity increases Salmonella lethality on the product surface, this is likely not a one-size-fits-all solution to all processes. Unlike the traditional goal of measuring the cold spot of a meat/poultry product, which involves identifying and accurately measuring a single location, the surfaces of such products are much larger, variable, and harder to accurately and reproducibly measure, which we quantified via pilot-scale cooking trials. A key industry and research challenge in quantifying and documenting surface lethality is the practicality and reliability of surface temperature measurements. Four surface temperature methodologies (3 thermocouple and an infrared imaging method) were investigated for: (1) their ability to capture the spatial distribution of temperatures on an impingement-cooked meat/poultry surface and (2) any potential inherent biases/artifacts that limit the utility of the approach in real-world applications. Thermocouple-based approaches included: (1) a thin-wire probe inserted ≤1 mm under the surface, (2) a rigid barbed thermocouple inserted ≤1 mm under the surface, and (3) a long rigid probe inserted through the side of the product until the tip was located ≤1 mm under an opposing surface. Six probes were inserted into beef patties or boneless chicken breasts (either all one type or split between two types), which were cooked in a pilot-scale impingement oven for 7 min (218°C dry bulb and 53°C dewpoint), and an infrared camera mounted on the exterior of the oven also captured an image of the surface temperature immediately samples exited the oven (≥6 replications of each thermocouple combination). Temperature measured by the barbed rigid probe heated fastest and plateaued hotter than other probe types, likely due to bias from the probe itself being heated by the oven air. The side-inserted probe heated most slowly, often not plateauing during the 7 min cook, likely due to bias from the cooler internal portion of the product through which the probe was positioned. IR imaging also showed that surface temperature of cooked beef patties was highly variable, with an average standard deviation of 6.6°C, corresponding to a 95% prediction interval of ±12.9°C. Overall, surface temperature measurement approaches are not universal or standardized, making any tools for predicting surface lethality highly specific to the measurement method used in developing the tool, which is important to note before any such tool is applied in industry. The data from laboratory- and pilot-scale experiments in the prior project years have been used to develop a novel thermal processing tool that offers several improvements over other, currently available food safety tools. This tool, currently titled 'Hydrated Surface Lethality Calculator' (HSLC), is a spreadsheet that uses temperature data provided by the user to calculate Salmonella lethality at both the surface and the core of a product. The inactivation model parameters (D- and z-values) used for lethality estimates are selected by the user from a dropdown menu, which will be curated by food safety experts and updated regularly as more research becomes available. Users will be able to manually enter their own D- and z-values as well, which will prompt a disclaimer regarding proper use of this calculator. In addition to lethality estimates, this tool will also produce several graphical representations of the data, which will facilitate interpretation of the model outputs, thermal process troubleshooting, and recordkeeping for HACCP and other purposes. This tool is currently being translated into a web-hosted application that will be available through a University of Wisconsin HACCP website. The results from this study have been communicated to stakeholders through numerous workshops held at the University of Wisconsin Meat Science and Animal Biologics Discovery building. Of particular note was the inaugural Thermal Processing School, held Nov 5-7, 2024. A portion of this program focused on educating meat processors about the scientific gaps in USDA-FSIS Appendix A and what strategies they may consider when dealing with products and/or processes that fall into these gaps. Participants were then allowed to use a beta version of the Hydrated Surface Lethality Calculator to help them better understand how they can collect and visualize data from their thermal processes. Participants were also asked for feedback on the HSLC, and their comments will be taken into consideration as app development continues beyond this completed project.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Rosie VanLuven, Ian Hildebrandt, Michael James, Bradley Marks. Salmonella inactivation in baked beef pasties. Poster presentation at the annual International Association for Food Protection meeting. Long Beach, CA. July 16, 2024.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Ava Chavez, Ian Hildebrandt, Michael James, Bradley Marks. Salmonella lethality during pilot-scale rotisserie chicken roasting. Poster presentation at the annual International Association for Food Protection meeting. Long Beach, CA. July 16, 2024.
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Progress 02/15/23 to 02/14/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target stakeholders for this project are: (1) Small and very small meat and poultry processors, defined by the USDA as establishments with 10-499 employees (small) or fewer than 10 employees or annual sales of less than $2.5M (very small). These processors are represented by the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP), which has over 1,400 member companies. (2) Regulators, represented by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS). Our collaborator with the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) has committed to arranging multiple meetings between our team and the FSIS Office of Policy and Program Development, to ensure direct communication and maximum impact of our results on the evolution of the Appendix A guidelines. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students and staff working on this project have been trained in Biosafety Level-2 research methods and have learned industry-relevant techniques for monitoring thermal process conditions and measuring product core and surface temperatures, moisture content, etc. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Updates on project activities and results have been presented at numerous industry workshops / training programs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The final (NCE) year of the project will focus on: (1) quantifying the reproducibility of surface temperature methodologies, (3) implementing a surface lethality modeling tool, and (4) continuing outreach/Extension activities translating these results to small and very small meat and poultry processors.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The third year of the project focused on pilot-scale challenge studies, cooking Salmonella-inoculated meat and poultry products, previously identified as scientific gaps by the USDA FSIS, following typical industry conditions that were documented in the prior project years. In one pilot-scale study, beef roasts halves (eye of round, 1.2 ±0.2 kg halves) were surface inoculated using an 8-serovar Salmonella cocktail and cooked at 149°C up to ~150 min (triplicated) using a pilot-scale convection oven comparable to systems used by small-scale processors. The oven was operated with: (A) no moisture added (45°C peak dewpoint), (B) moisture added via pan of water in the oven (56°C peak dewpoint), or (C) moisture injected using steam (66°C peak dewpoint). Although added humidity improved Salmonella reductions on the product surfaces, both humidity treatments A and B resulted in <6.5 log reductions of Salmonella at each surface sampling point, with average final reductions of 5.0 and 6.8, respectively. For both A and B treatments, the top surface resulted in the least observable Salmonella reductions (4.0 and 5.9, respectively). Beef roasts cooked with active steam injection resulted in >6.5 log reductions at each surface location after 90 min. In another pilot-scale study, raw, whole chickens were surface inoculated with Salmonella and cooked in a commercial, 8-chicken capacity, foodservice-scale rotisserie oven at 204°C (with no added humidity, triplicate runs) until the chicken reached an internal temperature of 73.9 or 83.0°C at the cold spot (cook times of 53.8 ± 2.8 and 82.0 ± 7.6 min, respectively). Once removed from the oven, 8 representative portions of skin were excised from each chicken, immediately chilled, and enumerated for Salmonella survivors. Although increased processing time improved Salmonella reductions, no single cooked chicken reached a 7-log reduction target at all surface locations. Average reductions for chickens cooked to an internal temperature of 73.9 and 83.0°C were 5.7 and 7.2, respectively. A third pilot-scale study entailed cooking of beef pasties (beef and vegetable filling enrobed in dough). Raw or pre-cooked beef cubes were inoculated using an 8-serovar Salmonella cocktail prior to inclusion in a simplified beef, potato, and onion filling. Pasties were baked in a pilot-scale convection oven at 149°C with no added humidity (~52°C dewpoint achieved during baking), with three biological replicates. Pasties were pulled at 30 and 50 min (which represented par-baked and RTE pasties), trisected, quenched, and enumerated for Salmonella survivors. By 30 min, the internal beef cube temperature exceeded 70°C; however, average Salmonella log reductions were 5.4 ± 0.9. These par-baked pasties did not visibly represent a fully baked product. By 50 min, pasties more closely resembled a final product, average internal beef cube temperature was 96.6°C, and average Salmonella log reductions were 7.4 ± 1.0. Therefore, similar commercial processes likely achieve >6.5 average log reductions of Salmonella. These and other project results continued to be shared via continued annual engagement with key industry stakeholders and outreach/Extension presentations and workshops, led by the University of Wisconsin team members, particularly focused on small and very-small processors. In particular, the team continued to advance the still relatively new (to many small-scale processors) concept of surface lethality and key product and process factors affecting inactivation of Salmonella on product surfaces during thermal processing.
Publications
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Progress 02/15/22 to 02/14/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target stakeholders for this project are: (1) Small and very small meat and poultry processors, defined by the USDA as establishments with 10-499 employees (small) or fewer than 10 employees or annual sales of less than $2.5M (very small). These processors are represented by the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP), which has over 1,400 member companies. (2) Regulators, represented by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS). Our collaborator with the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) has committed to arranging multiple meetings between our team and the FSIS Office of Policy and Program Development, to ensure direct communication and maximum impact of our results on the evolution of the Appendix A guidelines. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students and staff working on this project have been trained in Biosafety Level-2 research methods and have learned industry-relevant techniques for monitoring thermal process conditions and measuring product core and surface temperatures, moisture content, etc. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Updates on project activities and results have been presented at numerous industry workshops / training programs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The third year of the project will focus on additional pilot-scale cooking trials, in which eight different representative meat products will be inoculated with an eight-strain cocktail of Salmonella and subjected to either "industry typical" or "worst case" cooking conditions, where these conditions have been designed based on data collected in the year-1 site visits and industry survey. Process humidity and product surface temperature will be monitored during these trials, and pathogen survival at the product surface will be assayed at the process endpoint. These trials will include roast beef, pasties, rotisserie chicken. The results of the above pilot-scale trials will be communicated with industry (via multiple workshops and programs), the scientific community, and directly with the regulatory agency. Additionally, these results will inform the development of an oven operators food safety manual.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The second year for the project involved continued engagement with the North American Association of Meat Processors (NAAMP), with over 1,400 member companies, most of which are small or very small processors. Our NAAMP collaborator continues to be directly involved in the project meetings and planning, collecting information to characterize the state of operations within the industry, identifying potential new industry collaborators, and communicating key learnings from this project to the stakeholders. This active collaboration remains a key factor in the bidirectional integration of this project. The NAAMP collaborator and University of Wisconsin co-PD continued annual engagement with the key stakeholders via individual consultations and multiple in-person training and workshop events, particularly focusing on the target audience of small and very-small processors. In each case, these training events have included emphasis on factors important for maintaining microbially safe, ready-to-eat products, and on compliance with requirements of the USDA FSIS Revised Appendix A guidelines. In the prior year, industry surveys and site visits were used to collect information to characterize "typical" and "worst case" processes that are occurring in actual applications for the specific products targeted in this project (e.g., rotisserie chicken, pasties, ready-to-eat bacon, BBQ brisket, et al.), in terms of typical oven systems and operating parameters. That information was then used to design Salmonella-inoculated, pilot-scale challenge studies designed to evaluate the efficacy of those processes, focused on pathogen lethality on the surface, with the goal of filling specific scientific gaps identified by the FSIS in the Revised Appendix A guidelines. One example result from these trials was for cooking ready-to-eat bacon. Commercial cooking of bacon must achieve both a 40% yield and > 6.5 log reduction?in?Salmonella?to meet USDA FSIS ready-to-eat (RTE) requirements. However, the efficacy of Salmonella inactivation in bacon was not previously validated. Therefore, in this study, bacon slices were inoculated with an?8-strain?Salmonella?cocktail and cooked in a?microwave oven or a pilot-scale convection oven. Salmonella decreased > 6.5 log before the bacon achieved the minimum required 40% commercial yield for both cooking methods when humidity was not artificially reduced (dew point ≥ 32°C). When lean and fat portions were separated, lower Salmonella reductions (P < 0.05) were observed in the fat than in the lean portion of bacon (P < 0.05) during microwave cooking; however, the lean/fat interaction with cooking time was not significant (P > 0.05). During microwave cooking, when the maximum dew point was maintained at ≤ 26°C, Salmonella lethality was lower (P < 0.05), and 6.5 log reductions were not achieved before the required ≤ 40% yield. Overall, typical commercial processing of bacon to ≤ 40% yield likely complies with USDA FSIS expectations for Salmonella lethality. However, given the humidity effect, evaluating the humidity in industrial microwave ovens during bacon cooking may be important to ensure sufficient Salmonella lethality.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Randriamiarintsoa, N. 2022. Thermal Inactivation of Bacterial Pathogens under Widely Changing Moisture Conditions in Cooked Bacon and Dried Apple. M.S. thesis. Michigan State University.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Randriamiarintsoa N, Hildebrandt IM, James MK, Ryser ET, Marks BP. 2022. Salmonella inactivation in bacon using microwave or moist-air impingement oven cooking. Abstract P1-40. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Food Protection. Pittsburgh, PA. July 31 - Aug 3, 2022.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Nehls, J. 2022. The Impact of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Factors Affecting the Lethality of Salmonella on the Surface of Impingement-Cooked Meat and Poultry Products. M.S. thesis. University of Wisconsin.
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Progress 02/15/21 to 02/14/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target stakeholders for this project are: Small and very small meat and poultry processors, defined by the USDA as establishments with 10-499 employees (small) or fewer than 10 employees or annual sales of less than $2.5M (very small). These processors are represented by the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP), which has over 1,400 member companies. Regulators, represented by the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS). Our collaborator with the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) has committed to arranging multiple meetings between our team and the FSIS Office of Policy and Program Development, to ensure direct communication and maximum impact of our results on the evolution of the Appendix A guidelines. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Students and staff working on this project have been trained in Biosafety Level-2 research methods and have learned industry-relevant techniques for monitoring thermal process conditions and measuring product core and surface temperatures, moisture content, etc. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Updates on project activities and results have been presented at four different industry workshops / training programs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The second year of the project will focus on pilot-scale cooking trials, in which eight different representative meat products will be inoculated with an eight-strain cocktail of Salmonella and subjected to either "industry typical" or "worst case" cooking conditions, where these conditions have been designed based on data collected in the year-1 site visits and industry survey. Process humidity and product surface temperature will be monitoring continuously during these trials, and pathogen survival at the product surface will be assayed at multiple points during the process. The tests have been designed specifically to: (1) Fill "scientific gaps" that have been documented as part of the USDA FSIS Cooking Guideline for Meat and Poultry Products (Revised Appendix A), in which we are testing whether "industry-typical" process conditions could be considered "safe harbor" conditions under which sufficient pathogen lethality is achieved on the product surfaces, and (2) Identifying whether there are lower limits of those conditions (especially humidity) under which sufficient lethality cannot be achieved. The results of the above pilot-scale trials will be communicated with industry (via multiple workshops and programs), the scientific community, and directly with the regulatory agency. Additionally, these results will inform the oven operators food safety manual that we will begin drafting in year 2 (Obj 3).
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
A key element of this project is the direct engagement of the North American Association of Meat Processors (NAAMP), with over 1,400 member companies, most of which are small or very small processors. NAAMP was directly involved in the first year of the project, collecting information to characterize the state of operations within the industry, identifying potential industry collaborators, and documenting specific product and processing conditions that are being used in design of the pilot-scale cooking trials in this project. Surveys were collected from meat processors (n = 39) at national and state industry shows/meetings. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by members of the project team with company representatives to document the types of products they were thermally processing. Emphasis was placed on the eight products included in this project plan (BBQ beef brisket, rotisserie chicken, beef jerky, pasties, fully cooked bacon, smoked sausage, and beef roast). After ensuring the company was producing products of interest, the types of cooking systems being utilized were documented, along with temperature and humidity control capabilities. Finally, the survey concluded with an assessment of current company knowledge about the topic of surface lethality (e.g., what it is, why it is important, how it is accomplished, ways to achieve regulatory compliance). Of the processors surveyed, there was a high representation of focus products beef jerky, smoked sausage, bacon, and beef roast (n≥20); moderate representation of BBQ beef brisket and dry sausage (n=14-15); and low representation of rotisserie chicken (n=3) and pasties (n=1). The eight products of focus constituted the majority of processor's meat products, with other products including smoked poultry, various cooked sausages, and pork products. Almost all the processors (n=38) used a smokehouse for at least one product, with the most common types of smokehouses being electric or gas powered. Processors described their understanding on the impact of process humidity or the concept of surface lethality from low (n=7, 13) to high (n=11, 15). While current research demonstrates that meat surface desiccation promotes pathogen survival, 16 processors indicated that they are unaware of the impact of surface desiccation on pathogen survival or thought that it enhances pathogen inactivation. Despite the additional emphasis of surface lethality and process humidity included in the most recent USDA FSIS Appendix A revision, only 4 processors believed that their products have a surface lethality requirement, further supporting the urgent need for the outreach/training materials that will be developed in this project. After the survey data were analyzed, the project team conducted site visits at six meat processing facilities in four different states. These site visits yielded information about specific process conditions that are being used to replicate "typical" and "worst case" processes in the pathogen-inoculated, pilot-scale cooking trials in this project. Additionally, the site visits documented the type and character of process humidity and controlled being used in the various oven systems at these processors, which is a critical element of compliance with the new USDA FSIS Appendix A requirements, and therefore a key target in our workplan for Objective 1 of this project.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Sindelar, J.J. 2022. Lethality and Stabilization Using Appendix A. January 2022. Iowa State University Cured Meats Short Course. [53 participants].
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Sindelar, J.J. 2022. Lethality & Stabilization Following USDA, FSIS Appendix A & B Guidelines. April 2022. Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors Convention. [97 attendees].
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Sindelar, J.J. 2022. Update on the December 2021 Appendix A and B Guidance Issued by USDA-FSIS. May 2022. Refrigerated Foods Association. Virtual meeting [67 participants].
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Sindelar, J.J. 2022. Lethality Following USDA, FSIS Appendix A Guidelines. June 2022. Meat Snacks Short Course. [48 attendees].
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