The following is the latest media release from the Food Safety Information Council and is included here with permission.

Christmas and holiday entertaining
– how to be food-safe and COVID-smart

The Food Safety Information Council today launched their Christmas and Summer entertaining food safety advice.

Cathy Moir, FSIC Chair, said that this Summer and Christmas time is going to be a particular challenge as we also have to be aware of COVID-19 safety requirements as well as the usual need to be extra careful with food safety practices when catering for a lot of people in the hot summer weather.

‘Before arranging your Christmas and Summer gatherings, health authorities advise to make sure you are aware of any local COVID-19 restrictions on the number of people allowed. If you or anyone in your household is unwell or have cold or flu symptoms, cancel the event, stay home and get tested. Don’t forget to contact your guests just before the event to check they are feeling well and ask them not to attend if they are unwell. It’s also good sense to make a list of anyone who did attend,’ Ms Moir said.

‘Here are a few other COVID-19 specific tips from health authorities:

1. Have plenty of handwashing facilities and hand sanitiser available to help maintain good hand hygiene. Put out paper towels for hand drying if you have a lot of guests or make sure you regularly change towels to make sure they are clean and dry.
2. While COVID-19 isn’t likely to be spread via food it can be spread on surfaces. When meeting in social groups or with work colleagues don’t share food or drinks, this includes no communal sharing of crockery, glasses and cutlery (and no double dipping!).
3. You may want to serve up individual plates of food rather than let people serve themselves.
4. Set up seating to help people keep their distance and, if the weather permits, you may prefer to entertain outside where there is more space.

‘Our previous research found that one in three Australians are either in a vulnerable group for food poisoning themselves or live in a household with someone at risk. Any one of your guests could be in these vulnerable groups such as being pregnant, babies or toddlers, elderly or having reduced immune systems due to illness or certain medicines.

‘Here are some of our key Christmas and Summer entertaining food safety tips:

1. Keep it clean: Don’t forget to wash your hands in warm soapy water before preparing and cooking food, and after handling eggs, seafood, raw meat, poultry, burgers and sausages. Ensure your tools, utensils and chopping-, cheese- and presentation boards are cleaned and dried thoroughly before you start preparing your food and ensure you clean any tools (especially wooden presentation boards) with hot soapy water after use. Give eskies which contained food for picnics a good wipe down too.
2. Fail to plan, plan to fail: Plan ahead and don’t buy more food than you need. It’s vital that you don’t overstock your fridge and freezer, as this won’t allow the cool air to circulate freely and perishable food cannot be adequately frozen or chilled. Less food will also help to reduce food waste.
3. Space is key: Make room in your fridge for perishable foods by removing alcohol and soft drinks and put them on ice in a container or laundry sink. This also stops guests opening the fridge and helps to maintain the temperature at 5°C or below. Use a fridge thermometer to check the temperature.
4. Bird or bits? Think about getting a turkey breast that is simpler to cook, rather than a whole turkey. If you do need a whole turkey ask your supermarket if they sell them fresh rather than frozen. Otherwise it must be defrosted in your fridge which can take several days and also increase the risk of potentially contaminating ready to eat foods stored in the fridge.
5. Don’t wash the chicken! Don’t wash any poultry before cooking as that will spread the bacteria around your kitchen. Cook the any poultry until a meat thermometer shows it has reached 75° C in the thickest part of the thigh and cook any stuffing separately as it will slow the cooking and the inside of the bird might not be fully cooked. Probe thermometers are readily available, easy to use and help you make sure that food has reached the right temperature.
6. Don’t go raw. Cooked egg dishes are simple and nutritious but try to avoid raw or minimally cooked egg dishes, such as raw egg mayonnaise or aioli, eggnog or fancy desserts, which can be a particular risk for food poisoning. A safer alternative, if you want to serve raw egg dishes, is to look for pasteurised egg products.
7. Christmas ham won’t last forever– check the storage instructions and best before or use by date before removing the ham from its plastic wrap, cover it with clean cloth soaked in water and vinegar so it doesn’t dry out, and store it in the fridge at or below 5°C. Keep the cloth moist to stop the ham drying out too much. It is important to remember that the use by date on the original packaging won’t apply after the packaging has been removed, so check the fine print and see if the ham has a suggested shelf life after opening. Reduced salt hams are now becoming popular but will not last as long as conventional hams so think how much you are going to use in the next week or so and freeze some for later.
8. Phased roll-out: Don’t leave dips and other perishable chilled foods like patés, cold meats, soft cheeses like camembert and brie, cold poultry, cooked seafood like prawns and smoked salmon, sushi and salads out for more than two hours. Put out small amounts and replace (not top them up) from the fridge.
9. Get it cold, quick. Refrigerate leftovers as soon as possible. If perishable foods and leftovers have been left out of the fridge for less than two hours they should be okay to refrigerate or freeze to eat later, so long as they haven’t been sitting in the sun. Never eat perishable food that has been unrefrigerated for more than four hours as it may not be safe and should be thrown away. Food should not be refrigerated if it has been outside in the heat for more than an hour and discarded after it has sat outside for 2 hours.
10. Get it right hot. Always reheat leftovers to 75°C in the centre of the item or the thickest part to kill any food poisoning bugs. Use a probe thermometer to help you make sure that the leftovers have been reheated safely.

Finally, if you are stuck for Christmas presents for friends and relatives we would recommend you give the gift of online food safety training – we have partnered with Highfield e Learning to provide a simple online course for only $20 if you purchase before 31 December 2020 and you get the chance of winning a $50 Bunnings gift voucher find out more  https://foodsafety.asn.au/food-safety-training/

Test your knowledge with our Christmas and holiday entertaining quiz.

For more information see our Food Safety at Christmas advice.

Media contact: Lydia Buchtmann, Food Safety Information Council, 0407 626 688 or info@foodsafety.asn.au

A recent study in the USA reinforces the importance of Framer’s Markets vendors ensuring that good food safety practices are followed prior to and during the Market.

In the study around one third of the fresh produce being sold at Northern California Farmer’s Markets contained generic E.coli. The test was intended to identify what level of faecal contamination was on the fresh produce being sold. The study was not looking at pathogenic E.coli.

44 certified farmers markets were sampled across Northern California by University of California – Davies to check on the food safety risks of fresh produce and some meat and poultry.

338 beef and poultry products were sampled and 1.8 percent were found to contain Salmonella. 128 fresh produce samples were also taken and none of these contained Salmonella.

However, 31.8 percent of the fresh produce samples contained E.coli. with an average concentration of 0.13.

It was the leafy green and root vegetables which contained the highest levels of E.coli.

The findings , even if applied to Australian Farmers Markets, highlight two major issues;

1. Vendors at Farmers Markets need to ensure they are following good food hygiene and safety principles and practices
2. All fresh produce, even if not from a Framers Market, should be washed before use.

A recall notice from the New South Wales Food Authority which is included here with permission.

The NSW Food Authority advises:

Freedom Foods is recalling their MILKLAB Almond Milk and Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Chocolate Almond Milk due to a potential microbial contamination.

MILKLAB Almond Milk has been available for sale nationally in various coffee shops and food service outlets.

Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Chocolate Almond Milk has been available for sale in NSW (Coles and Woolworths), QLD (Coles and Woolworths), SA (Coles), TAS (Coles), VIC (Coles and Woolworths) and WA (Coles and Woolworths).

Product details:

• MILKLAB
  Almond Milk 1L
  Best Before dates: 18/06/21, 01/07/21, 20/07/21, 29/07/21, 06/08/21
• Blue Diamond
  Almond Breeze
  Chocolate Almond Milk 1L
  Best Before date: 27/04/21

Problem: The recall is due to potential microbial contamination (bacteria pseudomonas).

Food safety hazard: Food products with microbial contamination may cause illness if consumed.

Country of origin: Australia.

What to do: Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice and should return the products to the place of purchase for a full refund.

For further information please contact:  

Freedom Foods
1800 646 231
www.freedomfoods.com.au

Following is a new product recall notice from Food Standards Australia New Zealand and is included here with permission.

Date published: 28 August 2020

Product information

ALDI is conducting a precautionary recall of Inner Goodness UHT Almond Milk Original 1L. The product has been available for sale at all ALDI stores.

Date markings

Best Before 18/04/2021

Problem

The recall is due to potential microbial contamination.

Food safety hazard

Food products with microbial contamination may cause illness if consumed.

Country of origin

Australia

What to do​

Customers should not consume this product and should return it to any ALDI store for a refund of the purchase price. Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice.

For further information please contact:

Food Recall Hotline on 1800 709 993

The following is the announcement  in 2018 on the Codex Alimentarius website of the agreement that the 07 June each year will now be World food safety Day, as of 2019. It is included here with permission.

Today the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a World Food Safety Day. Starting in 2019, every 7 June will be a time to celebrate the myriad benefits of safe food.

“World Food Safety Day will be a chance for everyone to take a moment to think about something we often take for granted: food safety”, said Codex Secretary Tom Heilandt. “Thanks to the widespread efforts of Codex Members and Observers, the international community will speak with one voice on 7 June to promote awareness and inspire actions for safer food”, he said.

Unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies, disproportionally affecting vulnerable and marginalized people, especially women and children, populations affected by conflict and migrants. It also damages global trade leading to further food waste, which can no longer be tolerated in a world where many still suffer from hunger. The new annual observance, established thanks to concerted efforts led by Costa Rica, will draw attention and direct efforts to stopping the roughly 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses that occur annually.

How the proposal came about

It all started at the FERG – the Symposium on the Global burden of Food borne diseases – in Amsterdam on 15 December 2015, when then Codex Alimentarius Commission Chairperson Awilo Ochieng Pernet of Switzerland suggested the need for a World Food Safety Day. During her tenure as Chairperson, the idea became a concrete proposal set forth by Costa Rica. In 2016, the 39th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission unanimously agreed to promote the proposal to establish a World Food Safety Day on a permanent basis within the framework of the United Nations.

The 40th Session of the FAO Conference in July 2017 adopted a resolution in support of a World Food Safety Day and the World Health Organization expressed their support in December 2017.

The proposal was then unveiled in New York at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at a July 2018 side event featuring Codex Members, Observers, parent organizations and the current and previous Commission Chairpersons.

The Twitter video campaign

The Codex community took part in a video campaign on Twitter, led by the Codex Secretariat from 17 September until 20 December 2018. Codex Members, Observer organizations and the general public joined in to express their support for creating a UN day dedicated to food safety: over 100 replies, including videos, photos and messages were received in the above-mentioned period for a total of over one million interactions.

See the World Food Safety Day section on the Codex Alimentarius website

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More than 14000 Australians have had their say in the 10^th annual Products of the Year.

The winners have just been announced and some companies have done very well.

There has been a significant change in the list with 20 percent of the products  being healthy and allergy-free alternatives to traditional foods and beverages.

For the first time there were two categories specifically for gluten free foods, which highlights that suppliers are  moving to addressing a growing need in the market.

Sarah Connelly, Product of the Year Director, said: “A category that we have seen consistent growth in each year is ‘convenience foods’ but this year we are seeing more vegetarian easy-option foods, which simply haven’t been available before.”

The winners from the Nielsen research were rated by the consumers based on six key principles;

1. Relevance – Is the product fulfilling a need or addressing a problem?
2. Uniqueness – Does is stand out and bring something new to the category?
3. Excitement – Does it excite them? Would they spread the word?
4. Likeability – Does it deliver what you want?
5. Value Perception – Do you think it provides value for money?
6. Purchase Intent – How likely are you to buy this product (again)

The full list of 2018 winners of the Product of the Year can be found at

http://www.productoftheyear.com.au/site/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-WINNER-TABLE.pdf

A food product recall is something that no food manufacturer goes into lightly as there is a significant cost and potentially loss of market involved.

Recalls are only enacted when there is a food safety hazard involved and once that is made public, there is always a loss of confidence in the product and, in fact, the whole brand.

There has only been one Food Product Recall in Australia which actually resulted in an increase in market share. The Arnotts extortion case was so well handled by the company that the public actually deceided to buy that brand in preference to other biscuits brands available.

This is unfortunately the exception, and most brands suffer from a product recall. These recalls may be due to microbiological issues, other contaminations, or incorrect labelling.

It is the incorrect labelling recalls which are truly the most frustrating for food companies because they are due entirely to  at least one mistake made by either individuals or the processes in those businesses.

There are two current recalls as shown below which are good examples of labelling problems which end up as recalls.

In one the wrong labels has been placed into one of the labelling machines and the packed product not checked before production started. This is recall could easily have been avoided by a simple check of the first labelled bottle and a change to the rear label as required. In this case the returned product could be potentially relabelled and sent back out for sale.

The second is a bigger issue and is the result of the label design not being properly checked before it was printed, this not only means that the product has to be returned with all the costs associated with that, but will also require the reprinting of the actual label and the disposal of the current stock of labels, as well as the food involved. This is a very expensive type of recall and could have been avoided if the labels were properly checked  and signed off before they were printed.

Nearly all recalls are due to something going wrong in the business, but it is the labelling based recalls which simply should not happen, if the individuals and processes in businesses are working as they should.

The two recalls notices below are from Food Standards Australia nNw Zealand and are include here with permission.

Schweppes Lemonade 1.1L

Best before: 11MAR19 with time code from 20:16 to 20:40

MANUFACTURING CODE: 3202

Available for sale in Victoria, NSW and Tasmania

Problem: An incorrect label (Schweppes Lemonade Zero Sugar) has been applied to the rear of the bottle which does not accurately describe the ingredients used in this product. The front label is correct.

Food Safety Hazard: This product contains sugar. Consumers who have a medical need to avoid sugar should not consume this product.

Where sold: Coles and IGA supermarkets as well as some independent outlets in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.

What to do: Consumers who have a medical need to avoid sugar should not consume this product. Please return the product to place of purchase for a refund.

Further information: The best before date and time as well as the manufacturing code are stamped on the back of the bottle, below the label. The first line is the date and time code and the second line is the manufacturing code.

Contact details: Call the Schweppes Consumer Relations Centre on 1800 244 054 (9am until 5pm AEDT Mon – Fri).

YouFoodz Clean Paprika Chicken      

260g

Use By 29.09.2018

YouFoodz PTY LTD is conducting a recall of the above product/s. The product has been available for sale via direct distribution by YouFoodz in NSW, ACT, QLD, VIC, SA, NT, WA.

Problem: The recall is due to the presence of an undeclared allergens (Fish, Gluten, Egg and Milk).

Food safety hazard: Any consumers who have a Fish, Gluten, Egg or Milk allergy or intolerance may have a reaction if the product is consumed.

What to do: Consumers who have a (Fish, Gluten, Egg or Milk) allergy or intolerance should not consume this product and should return the products to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Country of Origin: Australia

For further information please contact:

YouFoodz PTY LTD

07 3633 0708

www.youfoodz.com