Brexit –

Notice to stakeholders – Withdrawal of the United Kingdom and EU Food Law The Windsor Framework

Contaminants are substances that have not been intentionally added to food, These substances may be present in food as a result of the various stages of its production, packaging, transport or holding, They also might result from environmental contamination,

mycotoxins (aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, patulin, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, fumonisins, citrinine, ergot sclerotia and ergot alkaloids) plant toxins (erucic acid, tropane alkaloids, hydrocyanic acid, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, opium alkaloids, Δ9-THC) metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, inorganic tin) halogenated persistent organic pollutants (dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs, non dioxin-like PCBs; perfluoroalkyl substances: PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS) processing contaminants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH): benzo(a)pyrene, sum of 4 PAHs; 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD), glycidyl fatty acid esters) other contaminants (nitrates, melamine, perchlorate)

The European Commission has published a factsheet on food contaminants: ” Managing food contaminants: how the EU ensures that our food is safe “.

What do you mean by food contamination?

This issue of Foods is dedicated to discuss the microbial, chemical and physical contamination challenges of food products. Food contamination is generally defined as foods that are spoiled or tainted because they either contain microorganisms, such as bacteria or parasites, or toxic substances that make them unfit for consumption.

A food contaminant can be biological, chemical or physical in nature, with the former being more common. These contaminants have several routes throughout the supply chain (farm to fork) to enter and make a food product unfit for consumption. Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium botulinum, C.

perfrigens, Pathogenic Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholera, V. parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus and Yersinia enterocolitica are common bacterial hazards (a type of biological contaminant).

Chemical food contaminants that can enter the food supply chain include pesticides, heavy metals, and other alien chemical agents. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized food contamination as a global challenge in several documents and reports, It is clearly acknowledged in a statement: “food contamination that occurs in one place may affect the health of consumers living on the other side of the planet”,

In fact, a vast majority of people experience a foodborne or waterborne disease at some point in their lives worldwide. Therefore, consumption of contaminated foods causes illness in millions of people and many die as a result of it. This scenario makes “food contamination” a serious issue.

1. The list of food contamination challenges is very long and keeps growing.
2. I would list three challenges, fresh produce contamination, antibiotics in food products and intentional contamination of foods, to highlight the importance of this topic.
3. Contamination of fresh produce is emerging as a major food safety challenge.

A recent report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) showed that the highest number of outbreaks was attributed to produce as a single commodity in the USA during 2002–2011, Similarly, produce caused the greatest number of illnesses and the largest average number of illnesses per outbreak.

This is a global trend and can be seen in examples of recent outbreaks: an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 after eating contaminated packaged baby spinach in the EU (2006); E. coli in cucumber outbreak in Germany and other EU countries (2011); an outbreak of Cryptosporidium infection traced to bagged salads in the UK (2012); an outbreak of L.

monocytogenes due to contaminated prepacked salad products (2016), and a Salmonella outbreak linked to lettuce in pre-packaged salads in Australia (2016). The emergence of antibiotic resistance bacteria (ARB) is now accepted a potential threat to both public and environmental health and the WHO has already proposed a global strategy to address the challenge,

• Publications describing the association and prevalence of ARB in food products are common now.
• Previously the clinical arena was the major culprit; however, the overuse of antibiotics in food production is making the situation more complicated.
• In brief, foods contaminated with ARB are going to be a major food safety issue in the future.

Intentional contamination of foods and food products is also a growing global concern. Intentional food contamination refers to the deliberate addition of a harmful or poisonous substance to food products. It is a criminal act and also known as food fraud.

1. Foods that have been intentionally contaminated are unsafe to eat and can make consumers seriously ill.
2. Therefore, it is also equally important to address the challenge of fraudulent food contamination.
3. Finally, I would emphasize that ensuring the supply of safe food products is important to protect public health and the food industry.

Food safety is generally compromised when food products get contaminated with a potentially hazardous and toxic agent. The food industry faces many global, as well as regional, contamination issues, existing and emerging, at all times, and continues to address them through scientific and technological developments.

What is contaminated food safety?

How does the food get contaminated (become unsafe)? – Food can be contaminated when a person who is preparing the food has not washed his/her hands. Fruit, vegetables, dairy products, meat and other food items can come into contact with soil, water, human/animal waste that contains illness-causing germs.

What describes contamination?

Chemical contamination – In chemistry, the term “contamination” usually describes a single constituent, but in specialized fields the term can also mean chemical mixtures, even up to the level of cellular materials. All chemicals contain some level of impurity,

1. Contamination may be recognized or not and may become an issue if the impure chemical causes additional chemical reactions when mixed with other chemicals or mixtures.
2. Chemical reactions resulting from the presence of an impurity may at times be beneficial, in which case the label “contaminant” may be replaced with ” reactant ” or ” catalyst,” (This may be true even in physical chemistry, where, for example, the introduction of an impurity in an intrinsic semiconductor positively increases conductivity.) If the additional reactions are detrimental, other terms are often applied such as ” toxin “, ” poison “, or pollutant, depending on the type of molecule involved.

Chemical decontamination of substance can be achieved through decomposition, neutralization, and physical processes, though a clear understanding of the underlying chemistry is required. Contamination of pharmaceutics and therapeutics is notoriously dangerous and creates both perceptual and technical challenges.

What is contamination and its examples?

Different Types Of Contamination, Causes And Prevention For Pharmaceutical Industry The presence of unwanted materials such as dust and particles during the manufacturing and transportation time is called contamination. The term contaminants includes any unwanted matter that is found in the product.

1. Physical contamination. Examples: fiber material, particles, chips from your,
2. Chemical contamination. Examples: vapor, gasses, moisture, molecules.
3. Biological contamination. Examples: fungus, bacteria, virus.

Cross contamination is possible when the unwanted matter is introduced or brought from one process to the next during manufacturing. A leak in the holding containment would contaminate the product inside it; this would be an example of physical contamination.

For chemical contamination, an example would be when the product is stored in a container that previously held another product, but was not properly cleaned. The remaining product’s chemical composition may add impurities to the new product, causing it to become contaminated. For biological contamination, bacteria may thrive if the container is not properly cleaned and dried.

The contaminated container will then affect the product and microbes may thus be introduced to the batch. Causes of Biological Contamination:

• Unhygienic and unsanitary practice
• Improper work attire
• Use of contaminated materials and equipment
• Open wounds or lesions in operators
• Operators suffering from infectious disease

Prevention of Contamination:

• Determine the cause of the contamination
• Anticipate the effect
• Prevent any ingress and egress
• Minimize the effects and quarantine the area
• Control the remaining contamination

Process of Elimination:

• Eliminate the source material
• To remove the contaminant carrier:
• Reduce human involvement
• Regulate the use of the equipment
• Regulate the use of air
• Regulate the use of water
• To reduce human carrier risk:

Ensure that proper attire is worn when coming and going from the production area

• To reduce water as carrier:
• As water is the number one source for cross contamination, it is important to reduce and prevent water contamination
• Water borne contaminants: particulates (such as minerals) and pathogens (e. coli, salmonella, etc.
• Use of preventive measure such as filtration devices, distillation or reverse osmosis, UV treatments
• To reduce air as carrier:
• Control air flow through AHUs
• Use of air locks
• Installation of HEPA filters
• Ultra-Low Particulate Air

Tips to Prevent Contamination

• Test one material at a time to prevent cross contamination
• Take a sample in a room that has a suitable air control system to prevent contamination through airflow
• Use proper tools designed for the product
• Ensure proper to prevent any biological contamination
• Regularly check if the cleaning process is effective
• Regularly check equipment for wear and tear to prevent any compromise to its integrity
• Properly design airflow system to prevent airflow contamination
• Dispensing stations should have proper dust extraction system
• Do not return used samples to their original containers
• Regularly monitor water to check for presence of microbial system
• Avoid charging two materials at a time
• Avoid unloading different materials for different batches
• Line clearance must be observed during product changeover
• Total impurity must not exceed 0.5% and single individual impurity not more than 0.1%

We at LFA Tablet Presses don’t only, We also support our customers in setting up their business. Contamination can be a really big problem in the food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. If you need help with reducing contamination please do get in contact with us.

There are several ways to prevent cross contamination during production and below are some ways to do so. Before starting, line clearance should be performed as per the SOP of the company. Do a checklist and record. Check to see if any starting materials are missing, previous record documents, product residues and product itself.

Practice a closed system when handling the materials. A Mix–Up may be defined as:

• An unplanned combination of various compounds.
• A mistake brought about wrongly identifying one material for another.

A mix-up can be caused by bad judgement or lack of attention to detail, i.e., human error. It can also occur though poor communication between personnel. : Different Types Of Contamination, Causes And Prevention For Pharmaceutical Industry

Why does contamination mean?

Did you know? – Contaminate, taint, pollute, and defile mean to make impure or unclean. Contaminate implies intrusion of or contact with dirt or foulness from an outside source (logically enough, it derives from the Latin word tangere, meaning “to touch”).

• Taint stresses a loss of purity or cleanliness that follows contact (“tainted meat”).
• Pollute, sometimes interchangeable with contaminate, may imply that the process which begins with contamination is complete and that what was pure or clean has been made foul, poisoned, or filthy (“the polluted waters of the river”).

Defile implies befouling of what could or should have been kept clean and pure or held sacred, and commonly suggests violation or desecration (“vandals defiled the mausoleum”).

What are the 4 types of food contamination?

No manufacturer wants to discover that a batch of their food products is contaminated. Food that has been tainted can cause serious harm – or even death – to those who consume it. In the summer of 2019, six people died across nine NHS trusts after eating pre-packed chicken sandwiches infected with listeria,

1. The deadly strain was linked to meat produced by North Country Cooked Meats that were used in the sandwiches.
2. The company’s factory was forced to close for inspection and then went into liquidation, taking down its distributor North Country Quality Foods.
3. The closures resulted in 46 job losses.
4. The Good Food Chain, which had unknowingly made the sandwiches with the contaminated meat also collapsed, putting a further 125 people out of work.

When consumers are injured or die due to food contamination, the companies involved have enormous repercussions. In the worst cases, companies can go out of business, and people lose their livelihoods. Even if they get through the contamination crisis, they will likely emerge with a severely tarnished reputation and a big dent in their finances.

• Physical contamination
• Biological contamination
• Chemical contamination
• Allergenic contamination
• How to prevent contamination in your plan

1. What causes food contamination?

   Viruses – Viruses invade normal cells in your body. Many viruses cause infections that can be spread from person to person. If water comes into contact with stools of infected people, the water may become contaminated with a virus. The contaminated water can spread the virus to foods.

   What are 5 ways food can be contaminated?

   The restaurant industry holds the health of its customers in its hands. Poor food safety practices can harm many diners in a short period of time, so it’s important to be alert for red flags. Seemingly simple mistakes can quickly add up to big costs in food waste and brand reputation damages.

   To that end, here are five common food spoilage snafus — and how you can avoid them. Temperature abuse Temperature abuse happens when food spends too much time in the temperature “danger zone” of 41°F to 140°F, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Within this range, bacteria can multiply rapidly, so foods shouldn’t be kept in that range for more than two hours at a time.

   That time goes down to just one hour if the room or outside temperature is above 90°F. USDA suggests that if hot foods can’t be served right away, they be kept at 140°F or above until they can be served. It’s also important to exercise caution in transporting food.

   1. Food shouldn’t be left on a hot loading dock during the unloading process.
   2. What foods are most susceptible to temperature abuse? Primarily, items kept in the door of the refrigerator.
   3. The constantly changing temperature that comes with being swung out into the room, then shut in again, makes it hard for food to maintain a cold enough temperature to stave off bacterial growth.

   Cross-contamination Anything that comes into contact with food at any point must be kept clean. Doing so can prevent pathogens, like Salmonella or norovirus, from contaminating food. This includes utensils, platters, drying rags, cutting boards, containers, surfaces and so on.

   Don’t forget about hands. Improperly washing hands, then handling food, can be a disaster waiting to happen. Properly washing hands involves using a plain soap and spending 20 seconds washing. Need a timer? Hum “Happy Birthday” from beginning to end twice. Cross-contamination can also occur when rinse water from cleaning the outside of vegetables splashes to the post-cleaning area.

   It’s important to treat your rinse water with a food-safe sanitizer, and to monitor the strength of these sanitizers throughout the cleaning process, draining and refreshing the water when needed. Unsafe ingredients You may take perfect steps for food safety while the food is in your hands, but raw materials used in cooking can be introduced to food safety concerns before even entering the restaurant.

   Bacteria can be brought in on ingredients, and it only takes one contaminated piece of produce to spread to others. Fruits and vegetables, especially melons and leafy greens, that haven’t been properly handled during harvest can bring pathogens into your restaurant. Ingredients may have also been temperature abused during transportation.

   It’s recommended that you get a Certificate of Analysis ( COA ) on all food coming in from outside. Improper storage conditions Be careful not to overlook the importance of storing dry goods in a cool, dark and dry place. Humidity should be below 15%. For items stored at room temperature, the recommended temperature is between 50°F and 70°F.

   Storage space should be kept clean, of course, and free of pests. To keep products safe from condensation or water damage, they should be at least six inches off the ground, 18 inches away from outer walls, and two feet away from the ceiling. When designing your storage plans, designate shelf space so that raw food and ingredients are never stored above ready-to-eat food.

   You should keep food away from sunlight. Rays from the sun speed up oxidation, which causes food to degrade in quality and nutritional value. Light can affect food coloring (natural and artificial) and also artificial flavors, affecting the look and taste of some products.

   1. Shipping damage Spoilage can easily occur in food products during transportation to the restaurant if storage conditions are not monitored during transport.
   2. Raw meat might bump into other products, leading to unintended cross-contamination.
   3. Food could be overheated, causing spoilage or container damage (which might lead to other food being covered in sticky food or drink residue).

   It hurts to toss out products, but if there is any risk that food safety has been compromised, it’s best to take steps to avoid any damaging foodborne illness outbreak. In cases where foodstuffs must be disposed of, composting and green waste disposal are mutually beneficial options. facebook twitter linkedin Category: Food Safety, Food & Beverage, Pathogens

   Why is food contamination important?

   Overview – Access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health. Unsafe food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances causes more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancers.

   What is the word for food contamination?

   Understanding terms – The term “food poisoning” is commonly used to describe all foodborne illnesses. A health care provider might use these terms to be more specific:

   “Foodborne illnesses” means all illnesses from any contaminated food or beverage. “Food poisoning” means illness specifically from a toxin in food. Food poisoning is a type of foodborne illness.

   How do you detect contaminants in food?

   A physics-based computer algorithm combines the two images to produce a third detailed image, enhancing the presence of nonfood materials. These results can be analyzed to identify the contaminants (Figure 1). Combining these approaches provides better results than are possible with other approaches used today.

   What is an example of food contamination?

   Equipment to Food Some examples are: Using unclean equipment such as slicers, can openers and utensils to prepare food. Using the same cutting boards, utensils, and/or work surfaces for both cooked and raw foods, such as with raw chicken then with vegetables.

   What is the best example of contamination?

   Examples of Physical Contamination – Common examples of physical contaminants include hair, bandages, fingernails, jewelry, broken glass, metal, paint flakes, bone, the body parts of pests, or pest droppings.

   Why is contamination a hazard?

   What are Hazardous Contaminants? – Definition from Safeopedia A hazardous contaminant is any hazardous substance whose presence in an environment is undesirable and poses a risk to workers in that environment. When an environment becomes contaminated with a hazardous substance, the environment itself becomes hazardous due to the presence of the contaminant.

   This includes situations in which contaminants can soil clothing, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other items, rendering those contaminated items a risk for spreading the contaminants into new environments if not properly isolated or decontaminated. Many workplaces are subject to mandatory decontamination procedures due to the risks posed by contaminants.

   These include workplaces in which ongoing contamination is a regular feature of normal work activities—for instance, hospitals being contaminated by biological hazards like bodily fluids—and workplaces in which the use of toxic substances could pose a severe risk to worker health if the contaminant (e.g.

   1. A radioactive substance) is brought into an unprotected environment.
   2. A hazardous contaminant can, at the simplest level, be understood as a type of pollutant that harms people who are exposed to it in sufficient quantities.
   3. For instance, diesel engines and other combustion engines that emit harmful gases are emitters of contaminants.

   If the gases emitted from these engines are not controlled or used in an open space, the air in the working environment may become contaminated, resulting in harm to worker health. The risk posed by hazardous contaminants is generally managed through the same hierarchy of hazard controls applied to other hazard risks.

   For example, risks posed by contaminated air might be mitigated through engineering controls such as powered ventilation systems. If the contaminant cannot be controlled effectively enough to prevent it from contaminating the work environment in which it is used, the use of PPE and behavior-based policies designed to limit worker exposure (administrative controls) may be necessary.

   For instance, hazardous radioactive materials that constantly emit high-energy particles will inevitably contaminate the space in which they are kept. Unless decontamination has been completed, workers present in the contaminated space will need to wear PPE regardless of whether the original radioactive materials are still present.

   Workplace policies and occupational health and safety authorities such as OSHA may mandate worker decontamination procedures in situations where the risk of spreading contaminants has been recognized through a hazard risk assessment or if it is viewed as inherent to the nature of the work being done.

   If a worker were to inadvertently become contaminated or transport a contaminated item (e.g. clothing) into another part of the workplace (such as a break room), those other areas—which may lack routine hazard detection and decontamination procedures—could also become contaminated. : What are Hazardous Contaminants? – Definition from Safeopedia

   How does contamination start?

   Cross-contamination –

   Food, kitchen equipment and surfaces can become contaminated by raw food products such as meat and poultry or by touching them. Microbes are transferred from one piece of food to another by using the same knife, cutting board or other utensil without proper handwashing, washing and sanitizing the surface or utensil in between uses. Food that is fully cooked becomes re-contaminated when it touches other raw foods or drippings from raw foods that contain pathogens. For example if cooked food is placed onto a board that has been used to prepare raw food.

   Why is contamination important?

   Identifying contamination is important because it can cause harm to human health and the environment. Contamination can become more challenging to address if left unmanaged. It’s especially a problem where the use of the land changes from industrial to a ‘sensitive use’.

   • For example, a home or a childcare centre.
   • If contaminated land will have a sensitive use, you must make it safe for use under the Victorian Planning System,
   • Exposure to some types of contamination may cause immediate harm to human health.
   • For example, some gases emitted by contaminated land create an explosion risk.

   Long term exposure to most contamination can cause adverse health risks to the community. For example, some types of contamination can increase your risk of cancer if you’re exposed for a long time. Some contamination can also move:

   through soil and groundwater into the environment and food chain.

   Some contamination can travel a long distance from its original site and enter waterways. Some levels of contamination in soil, groundwater or surface water create an unacceptable risk of harm to human health or the environment. This may mean:

   land becomes unsafe for people to use harm to the environment, for example if water sources are contaminated.

   For all these reasons, it’s important that we take steps to find out if contamination is present and identify actions to help reduce risks of harm to human health and the environment. You may have a duty to manage contamination on land you manage or control.

   1. This includes when you know, or should reasonably know, contamination is present.
   2. You can read more about EPA’s expectations in the Contaminated land policy (publication 1915).
   3. Under the duty to manage, EPA expects you to address unacceptable risks of harm from contamination.
   4. If risks arise because you’re engaged in an activity that exposes contamination, you must also manage risks under your general environmental duty,

   If you manage or control land and fail to address risks, EPA has the power to issue notices. Under these notices you must take action to manage risks.

   What is the most common type of food contamination?

   There are three different types of food contamination – chemical, physical and biological. All foods are at risk of becoming contaminated, which increases the chance of the food making someone sick. It’s important to know how food can become contaminated so that you can protect against it.

   Chemical contamination refers to food that has been contaminated by some type of chemical substance. Because chemicals can be very useful when cleaning in the kitchen, they can easily contaminate food. Chemicals must be properly labelled and stored separately for foodstuff to minimise the risk of contamination.

   There are also chemicals that occur naturally in foods, like toxins in some fish, and in some cases, minimal chemical contamination might not actually lead to illness. However, the food handler must always be aware of the presence of chemicals in food and take all reasonable precautions to make sure that chemical contamination doesn’t happen.

   1. Biological contamination refers to food that’s contaminated by substances produced by living creatures – such as humans, rodents, pests or microorganisms.
   2. This includes bacterial contamination, viral contamination or parasite contamination that’s transferred through saliva, pest droppings, blood or faecal matter.

   Bacterial contamination is thought to be the most common cause of food poisoning worldwide, and the best way to protect against it occurring is by maintaining the best food safety practices. Physical contamination refers to food that has been contaminated by a foreign object at some stage of the production process.

   What are three main food contamination?

   Types of Food Contamination – There is some dispute regarding how many different types of food contamination there are, with some saying there are three and others declaring four. Both cover the multiple incidences that could occur. The three types of contamination are biological, physical, and chemical.

   What are examples of contaminated foods?

   Foods that can cause food poisoning Some foods are more likely than others to contain germs that can make you sick. These foods include:

   • Raw and undercooked foods from animals, including meat, chicken and other poultry, eggs, raw (unpasteurized) milk and products made from it, and seafood.
   • Raw vegetables, grains, and fruits or products made from them, including leafy greens, sprouts, and flour.

   Although these foods are more likely than others to contain harmful germs, any food can get contaminated along the, including through in the kitchen. Following four simple steps at home——can help protect you and your loved ones.

   What is the word for food contamination?

   Understanding terms – The term “food poisoning” is commonly used to describe all foodborne illnesses. A health care provider might use these terms to be more specific:

   “Foodborne illnesses” means all illnesses from any contaminated food or beverage. “Food poisoning” means illness specifically from a toxin in food. Food poisoning is a type of foodborne illness.

   

   Jack Gloop