Washington - At a public meeting held by USDA to address issues related to Listeria monocytogenes, a pathogen linked to several recent outbreaks of foodborne illness, the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) made the case that, “although the incidence of listeriosis is low, the current outbreak points out the need to renew efforts to control L. monocytogenes and to investigate new strategies to further protect the consumer.”
Dane Bernard, NFPA's Vice President of Food Safety Programs, stated that “L. monocytogenes is widespread in the environment in and around food plants and in homes, so the ideal of eliminating the potential for contamination of all foods by L. monocytogenes must be tempered with a practical view of what currently is possible. Therefore, we must set a course of action that will ultimately yield the greatest results, while recognizing the reality of the limits of technology that can be applied today.”
Bernard made his comments at a meeting held in Arlington, Virginia on February 10, 1999 by USDA'S Food Safety and Inspection Service. The meeting focused on current industry and government procedures regarding L. monocytogenes, as well as a discussion of developing a short- and long-term strategy for “research, regulation, education and enforcement.”
While consumers need to be informed about listeriosis, warning labels on food products would not be an effective way to provide this information, Bernard said. “Consumers, especially high risk groups such as pregnant women and older Americans, need to be informed of the risk of listeriosis and provided with dietary and food preparation strategies to address this risk,” Bernard noted. “This advice should come primarily through health care providers, not through warning labels on food products. Simply put, use of warning labels has not proven to be an effective strategy for managing the risks associated with consumption of products such as raw milk or raw oysters, and in fact has not been accepted by the Food and Drug Administration as a long-term strategy for risks associated with unpasteurized juice products.”
Bernard added that “Information pamphlets provided through the health care community were proven effective in reducing listeriosis in the United Kingdom, and a similar approach is being launched in Australia. Informing at-risk populations should be part of an overall risk management strategy, but it must be done in an effective way.”
Bernard said that other components of a multi-faceted risk management strategy for addressing L. monocytogenes should include:
Targeted monitoring by regulatory agencies. “Regulatory agencies should focus compliance efforts and resources where the problem lies,” Bernard said. “The agencies should focus on those products that have been implicated in listeriosis cases or that have the greatest potential for contamination with high levels of L. monocytogenes at the time of consumption, i.e., foods demonstrated to support multiplication of L. monocytogenes.”
Solutions To Inactivate Pathogens After Packaging. “With the help of researchers, including those in government, use of new and innovative technologies should be encouraged to provide industry with new control options, including in-package pasteurization technology such as irradiation to eliminate L. monocytogenes,” Bernard stated.
NFPA is the voice of the $430 billion food processing industry on scientific and public policy issues involving food safety, nutrition, technical and regulatory matters and consumer affairs.
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