Food Protection Trends - February 2012 - (Page 87)

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN FOOD SAFETY 2012 Crumbine Award Guidelines Released he Foodservice Packaging Institute (FPI) released the guidelines for the 2012 Samuel J. Crumbine Consumer Protection Award for Excellence in Food Protection at the Local Level, which is a prestigious award given annually to local environmental health jurisdictions that demonstrate unsurpassed achievement in providing outstanding food protection services to their communities. Named for one of America’s most renowned health officers and health educators, Samuel J. Crumbine, M.D. (1862–1954), the award encourages innovative programs and methods that reduce or eliminate the occurrence of foodborne illnesses, recognizes the importance of food protection at the local level and stimulates public interest in foodservice sanitation. Only local government organizations with the responsibility for food protection in the United States and Canada are eligible to apply for the award. These are understood to be departments or agencies that have the legal responsibility to protect the health of consumers in a county, district, city, town, township or like jurisdiction. Furthermore… • The U.S. Uniformed Services and U.S. Indian Health Service area programs are invited to apply, if they conduct a local food program. • State, provincial, institutional, industry and private programs are not eligible. • Past award winners may apply five years after winning the award. The basic criteria of an awardwinning program are: • Sustained excellence over the preceding four to six years, as documented by specific outcomes and T • • • achievements, and evidenced by continual improvements in the basic components of a comprehensive program; Demonstrated improvements in planning, managing and evaluating a comprehensive program; Innovative and effective use of program methods and problem solving to identify and reduce risk factors that are known to cause foodborne illness; and Providing targeted outreach; forming partnerships; and participating in forums that foster communication and information exchange among the regulators, industry and consumer representatives. Michigan State University Gets Federal Food Safety Grant A All local environmental health jurisdictions meeting these basic criteria are encouraged to apply, regardless of size and resources. To apply, applicants should download the newly revised guidelines, which may be found at www.fpi.org (in the “Awards” section). The deadline to submit entries for the 2012 award is March 15, 2012. The Crumbine Award is supported by the Conference for Food Protection in cooperation with the American Academy of Sanitarians, American Public Health Association, Association of Food & Drug Officials, Foodservice Packaging Institute, International Association for Food Protection, National Association of County and City Health Officials, National Environmental Health Association, National Restaurant Association Solutions, NSF International and Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. For more information about the Crumbine Award, please visit www. fpi.org or contact Natha Freiburg at FPI by phone at +1 703.538.3552 or by E-mail at nfreiburg@fpi.org. few years ago, Elliot Ryser and his colleagues put 20 pounds of E. coli-tainted radicchio through a commercial slicing machine along with untainted iceberg lettuce.The result: more than 2,000 pounds of contaminated lettuce and “several hundred pieces of radicchio left on the processing equipment, as well,” said Dr. Ryser, a professor of food science and human nutrition at Michigan State University. Dr. Ryser is interested in how dangerous bacteria spread during food processing – E. coli in lettuce and spinach, Listeria in cantaloupe, Salmonella in tomatoes. And he has received a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to continue his work on contamination in fresh cut fruits and vegetables, one of three awards totaling nearly $3 million that went to MSU. “There has been very little work done on cross-contamination, surprisingly. People know that it’s a problem, but no one has yet done the work to quantify the numbers of bacteria transferred,” Dr. Ryser said. And sifting through thousands of pounds of lettuce looking for contamination does require a certain time commitment, he added. FDA Announces the Availability of Safety and Effectiveness Data to Support a New Animal Drug Application for Aquaculture T he Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of Public Master Files (PMFs) containing safety 87 FEBRUARY 2012 | FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS http://www.fpi.org http://www.fpi.org http://www.fpi.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - February 2012

Food Protection Trends - February 2012
Contents
Sustaining Members
Food for Thought from Your President
Commentary from the Executive Director
Efficacy of Cleaning and Sanitizing Agents against Attached Listeria monocytogenes on Meat Slicer Components
Characteristics of Restaurants Associated with Critical Food Safety Violations
IAFP 2012–2013 Secretary Election
IAFP 2012 Award Nominations
New Members
What’s Happening in Food Safety
Industry Products
IAFP 2012
Coming Events
Advertising Index
Journal of Food Protection Table of Contents
Membership Application

Food Protection Trends - February 2012