More than 3,600 food safety experts, academics and stakeholders from six continents gathered for the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) annual meeting in July. The event facilitated the cross-pollination of emerging data and best practices among some of the top minds in the industry.
“It’s really important to maintain our leadership role in the low-moisture arena and show that we take food safety seriously.” Birmingham presented on the almond industry’s commitment to food safety at the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) annual meeting.
During a live panel, Tim Birmingham, Almond Board of California’s (ABC) director of quality assurance and industry services, joined other experts in telling “stories from the trenches,” which included tales of conducting in-plant validations on a variety of Process Systems. The discussion covered low-moisture foods and highlighted the almond pasteurization program as a key industry success.
“Following a couple of issues with Salmonella in 2001 and 2004, the almond industry realized more work had to be done to ensure we continued to produce a safe and high-quality product,” Birmingham said. “We worked hard to create a variety of validation guidelines that are now available to the entire low moisture food industry.”
Birmingham has been involved with the approval of more than 230 process validations on equipment used for almonds and helped implement the almond mandatory pasteurization program. He explained that the work conducted by ABC, UC Davis and other research partners paved the way for the development of guidelines for specific process types, including the establishment of time and temperature combinations for some processes such as blanching and oil roasting.
Birmingham also shared advice on how to avoid pitfalls during validation design and execution:
- Establish clear support from the entire team to use validation data to address and correct shortcomings and determine an appropriate set of critical factors to meet.
- Engage early with the Process Authority, equipment supplier and management team to clearly articulate expectations and determine design elements crucial for control.
- Run a successful startup of a new line, and then begin validation testing after the equipment has been successfully run.
- For validation testing, adjust set points to worst-case conditions that can be exceeded during normal desired production values.
- Complete calibration work and ensure recordation and monitoring is in place.
- Establish a timeline for all individuals involved in validation at a given site.
- Be flexible!
Brian Dunning, chair of ABC’s Almond Quality, Food Safety and Services Committee, was also in attendance at this annual event. “By participating at IAFP, it reinforces the California almond industry as a leader in its food category. Since IAFP has balanced participation from industry, government and academia, it provides the best forum of any conference to participate in and share this information.”
The California almond industry continues to assure government regulators and customers worldwide that the industry is diligent in its commitment to processing safe, high-quality nuts by participating in high-profile events like IAFP and staying ahead of the food safety curve with programs like mandatory almond pasteurization.
“It’s really important to maintain our leadership role in the low-moisture arena and show that we take food safety seriously,” Birmingham said. “There are a lot of industry partners who look to ABC for information, and this solidifies the understanding that almonds are a safe, healthful food to be front and center at these events.”
Birmingham said there is a strong desire for more knowledge about food safety processes, and ABC’s research can help drive future discovery. Dunning reiterated that “despite the very slow rollout of new food safety regulations, change is coming, and our industry needs to continue to maintain an aggressive path with our initiatives.”
“We don’t have all the answers. There’s still a lot of work that needs to be done on educating folks on process validation and being aware of what the expectations are,” Birmingham said. “During our panel, many audience members had questions on how to test equipment. This is where ABC can be a leader in guideline-setting and information-sharing.”
For more information on almond validation guidelines, and to learn more about the Almond Board of California’s commitment to support the industry in processing safe products, visit Almonds.com/Processors/FSMA.
