Food & Beverage News: Top Stories - The American Spices Trade Association releases a white paper on microbiological safety in spices

The American Spices Trade Association has released a white paper on Microbial Safety in Spices. It highlights the importance of safety in spices stating that the US FDA considers spices by nature to be a ready-to-eat product. Its says that though spices have not been historically associated with outbreaks or product recalls due to some bacterial pathogens (e.g. Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium perfringens, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, etc), they have been associated with foodborne illness due to E. coli and Salmonella contamination.

While E. coli is sometimes implicated, Salmonella is the most common bacterial pathogen associated with product recalls and outbreaks in spices. The paper gives a list of spice recalls due to baterial contamination. For eg., Paprika contaminated with the Salmonella Ohio, Orengano contaminated with Salmonella Bispebjerg, Sesame Seeds contaminated with Salomenalla Senftenberg and such other.

Between April and September, 1993, an estimated 1,000 cases of salmonellosis in Germany were traced to paprika and paprika-powdered potato chips. The majority of cases were in children aged 14 years or less. ASTA White Paper product revealed levels of 0.04-0.45 organisms per gram. The infective dose was estimated at 4 - 45 organisms with an attack rate of 1 in 10,000 exposed persons.

Salmonella present in low numbers in spices can present a human health hazard when no kill step is applied prior to consumption.

The white paper focuses on the role of microbiological testing. It says that test protocols for microbiological contamination must incorporate sound handling methods and statistically-guided sampling plans. Routine microbiological testing of products is used to determine the acceptance of purchased ingredients, raw materials, and finished products.

Testing of spices for pathogens, including Salmonella, may be useful to screen for high rates of contamination entering a plant, but cannot completely eliminate risk. In instances where the contamination rate is low, the reliance on microbiological testing as the lone measure of food safety may be misleading as negative results do not always ensure safety.

For more information on the usefulness of pathogen testing, the International Commission for the Microbiological Safety of Foods has provided a decision tree. For microbiological testing, samples of product must be collected. More stringent sampling plans are typically required for untreated products than for those that have undergone microbial reduction. In fact, when spices are treated by validated methods such as irradiation, ethylene oxide, or steam, extensive testing post-treatment adds little to ensure food safety, increases cost, and may be unnecessary.

If sampling and testing is appropriate, the procedure for the collection of samples is key to ensuring accurate results. Factors that influence the effectiveness of a sampling plan include whether random samples can be collected from a lot, how samples are prepared, and the sensitivity and specificity of the analytical method.

Extracted from: http://www.astaspice.org