rockmelon food safety- the way forward · melon growers/ packers whole-of-chain approach, national...

Name of program

Rockmelon Food Safety-

the Way Forward

S.P. Singh, PhD

NSW Department of Primary Industries

Central Coast Primary Industries Centre

Ourimbah, NSW

E: [email protected]

T: 02 4348 1935; M: 0420 593 129

Name of program

Australian Melon Industry

Name of program

Rockmelon food safety - a challenge

• Proximity to ground

• Netted rough skin

• Hard-to-sanitise

• Consumed raw

• Low acid flesh

• 2018 Listeria outbreak in Australia

• 2018 Salmonella outbreak in USA

• 2016 Salmonella outbreak in Australia

Name of program

NSW DPI’s

Horticultural Food Safety

Research Program

Mitigate food safety risks

• Scientific evidence-based

• Preventative

• Industry-focused

Name of program

NSW DPI’s Safe Melons Initiative (2014-)

Safe Melons

Funding$$

Research

Peak Industry Body

Regulators

Supermarket retailers

Melon growers/packers

Whole-of-chain approach, national scope

(2018-)

Name of program

Food Safety Training, Extension and Capacity for

the Melon Industry (VM17002 )

June 2018 to April 2019

Current Melon R&D Project

Name of program

Food Safety Training, Extension and Capacity for

the Melon Industry (VM17002 )

Name of program

“………..growing rockmelons for over 50 years, no Listeria ever”

“……….. growing for over 20 years, we had no problems”

“…growing melons for two generations, our systems are perfect”

Food safety (Listeria ) perspective

Name of program

Courtesy: Prof Martin Wiedmann, Cornell University, USA

Name of program

What has changed recently?

Improved diagnostics

Enhanced surveillance

Excellent traceability

Whole genome sequencing

Name of program

• Review food safety systems

• Identify critical control points in processing

• Assist in verification of food safety practices

• Train key staff in food safety

One-on-one consultation with growers and packers

Name of program

Invitation to participate in the project

• SE Qld: Sep-Oct

• NSW & Vic (Riverina & Sunraysia): Nov-Dec

• SA Riverland: Dec

• Southern WA: Dec-Jan

One-on-one consultation with growers and packers

Name of program

Best Practice Guide

• Develop and implement a Best Practice Guide

• Baseline data and information from consultation

• Peer-review and comments from stakeholders

including researchers, industry and regulators

Name of program

Key learnings from the project so far

Name of program

Hot spots for cross contamination

Harvest

bins

Name of program

Hot spots for contamination

Postharvest precooling

• Porous skin- Infiltration of wash water

• Higher difference in fruit temperature and

wash water temperature aggravates the

risk

Name of program


Dump tank

Name of program


Re-circulated

wash water

Name of program

Postharvest washing

• Sanitiser concentration

• Difference in target vs. actual concentrations

• -50 ppm to +40 ppm

• Contact time between sanitiser and fruit

• 25 sec to 120 sec

• Dosing & monitoring

• Manual

• Automatic

Hot spots for cross-contamination

Name of program


Brushes

Name of program


Drying tunnel and curtain

Name of program


Conveyor belts

Name of program


Grading

cups

Name of program


Packing

tables

Name of program


Porous

surface

Name of program


Cracks

Name of program


Cool

room

Name of program

Key issues

• Packinghouse

hygiene

• Dust control

Name of program

Loading Zone

Tea Room

Sit

e O

ffic

e

Grading

Machin

e

QA Area

Cool Rooms

Melon

Grader

Environmental monitoring- potential pathogen harbourage sites

Name of program

Microbiological survey

• Fruit and environmental samples collected

during on-site visits to rockmelon growers

• RT-PCR assay for Salmonella species and

Listeria monocytogenes

Name of program

Rockmelon food safety-the way forward

• Preventative approach

• Continuous improvement

• Automation and digitisation

• “Embrace the Change”

Name of program

Being either insane or part of change?

Name of program

Acknowledgements

• Melon growers & packers

• State health regulators, Supermarkets

Name of program

NSW DPI’s Project Team

• Amanda Warren-Smith

• Andrew Creek

• Andrew Watson

• Craig Shadbolt

• Kasia Strojny

• Miranda Christopher

• Stela Gkountina

• Zabrina Khan

Acknowledgements

Name of program

Name of program

Technical Enquiries

t: 02 4348 1935

e: [email protected]

Please visit our booth in exhibition

mailto:[email protected]

rockmelon food safety- the way forward · melon growers/ packers whole-of-chain approach, national...

Documents