All businesses need to make sure that they operate within the law for a wide range of measures, including health & safety, environmental issues, weights and measures, et cetera. For food businesses, it is crucial that the food sold does not endanger public health, therefore adequate control systems must be in place. In the UK and EU, food safety requirements are clearly identified in legislation so it is important that all food businesses are aware of and keep up to date with changes in food safety laws.

Key driving forces for new foods are naturalness and nutrition. Consumers also expect pleasurable eating experiences. Unilever have recently launched “Frusi” , a completely new concept in ice cream that addresses the ‘enjoyment versus health’ paradox – the idea that something that tastes good cannot be healthy and vice versa. Moreover, Frusi is the first of a new generation of natural and nutritious pleasure-foods that is eaten directly from the freezer.

Foodborne botulism is a severe illness that is caused by the consumption of foods containing a neurotoxin produced by a bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. Very little of this toxin is required to cause illness; for example, in 2002, a 35 year old man put a piece of baked potato in his mouth and then spat it out again as it tasted bad. He ingested enough toxin to put him in hospital for six and a half months.

In this contribution, the topic of Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is reviewed by describing the actual status of this technology and its possible developments, which are mainly related to the combination of MAP with other preservation technologies. Among them, particular attention is devoted to active packaging with antimicrobial properties.

Process hygiene is an ongoing issue of considerable importance for the food industry, as the increasing cost pressures placed on manufacturers by the major retailers have to be met, without compromising the safety and shelf life of the product.

In this article, a glimpse of theory and basic information regarding the pump data assumptions, together with the hygienic features of its elements, has been considered. It has been stressed that the main criteria for the decision taken with respect to the practical application of the variety of hygienic pump types should be the result obtained after the microbial test given.

During manufacture, food can be exposed to microbiological cross-contamination from surfaces and air which may give rise to food spoilage and safety issues. The traditional approach to controlling such contamination has been to target specific sites within the manufacturing environment with cleaning and disinfection regimes.

You most probably rely on it for the operation of your food processing and storage systems – but how much do you know about your refrigerating equipment and the environmental obligations you have for the refrigerant they contain under UK law?

Appearance is an important factor, determining the perceived product quality. Consumers usually develop strong associations through appearance and often, base their pre-purchase judgements on the appearance of the product. Colloids, because of their ability to interact strongly with light, either in simple form or organised in more complex structures, offer unique possibilities to control product appearance through manipulation of colour and turbidity. In this review, we present advanced approaches based on the application of designed colloids, from food grade materials to control product appearance.

In 2004, the systematic non-compliance of lids for glass jars packed with oily foods was detected and compelled authorities to factually lift existing rules. This shows that not all industry performs satisfactory self control. It was a regulatory disaster and might, 4 years later, end in another regulatory disaster, if the major lid producers continue to refuse producing compliant lids.

Food manufacturers face challenges in optimising speed and efficiency, reducing product inventory, simultaneously responding to microbiological and chemical contaminants and entering the production process, via ingredients or the environment. Currently, most official or reference methods for pathogen or contaminant detection are laborious, costly, and often take a long time (3-7 days or longer) to obtain results. The application of rapid methods allows for an easy and fast response in the monitoring of raw materials and production environments, reducing the turn-around-time along the supply chain.

Ready-to-eat, fresh-cut consumer products are one of the few segments within the industry that has shown consistent growth within the last few years. Cutting however, increases senescence rate and the shelf life of the products can be very limited. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), combined with a good cold chain can extend the shelf life, but challenges still exist, due to fresh-cut products containing much higher respiration rates due to the cell stress, caused by cutting.

Freezing and chilling are the most widespread conservation methods in the food production chain. Refrigeration is generally gentle but it can often influence the quality of food products.

“Infectious intestinal disease occurs in one in five people each year, of whom one in six presents to a general practitioner.” So wrote Wheeler and colleagues in 1999 (Wheeler et al, 1999). This translated into 9.4 million people suffering from infectious intestinal disease (IID) annually, with around 1.5 million people consulting their GP.

Transparent plastic packaging is increasingly replacing traditional food packaging made of glass and metal. The advantages of transparent plastic packaging are; its low weight, low cost, design flexibility and the opportunity to present products in an attractive way. However, compared to traditional packaging made of glass, metal, aluminum-laminated films or metallised films, transparent plastic packaging provides less protection against light and also in many cases, a poorer barrier against oxygen.

The goal of predictive microbiology is to provide useful predictions about the microbial behaviour in food systems. Predictive microbiology combines “the disciplines of food microbiology, engineering and statistics” (Schaffner and Labuza, 1997).

This article introduces the use of radio frequency (RF) and ohmic (OH) heating for meat pasteurisation and gives a brief overview of some UCD Dublin findings on the quality of OH and RF cooked meats.

Delicatessen slicers have long been recognised as a source for the spread of both spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms in the retail food environment. However, based on the higher prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes – a serious bacterial foodborne pathogen of major public health significance, in delicatessen meats sliced at retail and several major outbreaks of listeriosis traced to deli meats, delicatessen slicers are now well recognised as an important vehicle for cross-contamination. This article describes a series of factors that affect the numbers of Listeria cells transferred during retail slicing of deli meats and some means of minimising the risk of transfer.

Canning has been a valuable form of food packaging and preservation ever since Napoleon offered a prize for the invention of a method of preserving food for military campaigns. In the UK there are 4 billion food cans sold each year and in the enlarged EU the figure is more than 30 billion. Canning is a microbiologically safe means of storing food for a number of years without refrigeration or chemical preservation and offers good, wholesome, nutritious food at affordable prices. Metal cans also have high recycling rates with large benefits of reduced consumption of energy and raw materials.

Food preservation implies that micro-organisms are inactivated or suppressed in order to enhance the safety and quality of the product. Alternative physical techniques aim to combine the stability and microbial safety of foods with a minimal loss of quality attributes. Because these techniques have little or no thermal effects on foods, they are commonly referred to as non-thermal preservation technologies. Among these emerging technologies used for food application, the pulsed light process is currently being studied.

Titration is an analytical technique that is widely used in the food industry. It allows food manufacturers to determine the quantity of a reactant in a sample. For example, it can be used to discover the amount of salt or sugar in a product or the concentration of vitamin C or E, which has an effect on product colour.

Food packaging is traditionally required to have many functions: to contain and protect the food, to provide a surface for information labels, to add a distinct brand identity and to present the food attractively so that consumers will purchase it.

Refrigeration is a vital part of modern food production. Without a means to cool and keep food cold, the quality and safety of food would be compromised and the sophisticated cold chain we are used to would not be possible. The whole food chain is underpinned by refrigeration from primary food processing through storage, transport, retail and domestic refrigeration in consumers’ homes.

The Danish swine industry produces more than 20 million slaughtered pigs each year. For many years most of the production has been exported, with England, USA and Japan being some of the most important markets.

Shortly after Reading Scientific Services Ltd formed its Emergency Response Service (ERS) in 1987, the UK food industry faced one of the biggest, and most public, extortion attempts ever to occur. A former Metropolitan police detective, Rodney Witchelo, had begun his campaign to extort money by contaminating jars of baby food with fragments of glass and razor blades.

The past ten years have seen many changes in both food science and technology as well as in food regulations. Contrary to the decades before then, most of it has been consumer driven. Consumers have become more aware of the influence of eating habits on their lives, in particular their health, and the food industry has happily tried to comply with their wishes with innovations, thereby stimulating research and development.

Did you know that Finland is the leader in functional food innovations? It seems as though the Finns turn their weaknesses into strengths; they may not be very talkative, but they are leading producers of mobile phones, and they may not have a very rich food tradition, but they are at the cutting edge in functional foods.

‘Nano’ or small-scale technologies are an exciting area of science involving work at the nano scale; far smaller than micro-scale technology and impossible to view with the human eye. No-one yet knows the extent to which nanotechnology could transform our world, but it is generally acknowledged that the technology could be applied across a wide range of industries, and benefit quality of life. Raymond Oliver, Director of Science and Innovation at Cenamps – a centre of excellence in nano and small scale technologies, and a technical advisor to the Food Standards Agency, speculates as to how nanotechnology could transform the future of food packaging.

There are many naturally bioluminescent organisms existing in nature and the mechanisms whereby some of these creatures emit light have been fully characterised. These include the luciferin-luciferase system of bacteria, insects (fireflies and click-beetles) and the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. In essence, bioluminescence involves the conversion of chemical energy into light energy by an enzyme, commonly termed luciferase.

The colour and appearance of baked products are important quality attributes. Printed images of products are often displayed in production areas to illustrate the required appearance, but frequently provide a poor match to the actual product colour.

Technological advances in the field of food microbiology are a common occurrence. A great deal of research and validation is put into improving established methodologies and utilising new rapid approaches to isolation and detection. However, established ‘conventional testing’ is still the main stay of most food microbiology laboratories with the age old traditions of putting samples on petri dishes. RHM Technology is one of a small number of UK labs that have employed a high-tech approach to this area of testing, in order to bring improved service level and cost benefit.

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is widely used for the packaging of meat. In MAP, carbon dioxide (CO₂) is primarily used due to its ability to inhibit the growth of a wide range of microorganisms (Farber 1991) and thereby extend the storage life of fresh meat. When high CO₂ levels are applied, the concentration of CO2 in package headspace will decline during the first days of storage due to absorption of CO₂ in the meat. CO₂ dissolves in both muscle and fat tissue (Gill 1988), until saturation or equilibrium is reached.

Listeria monocytogenes is a pathogenic bacterium and one of six species belonging to the genus Listeria. This species is the only one believed to be pathogenic to man; however, not all L. monocytogenes serotypes have been linked with illness. The bacterium is very common in the environment. It has been found in at least 37 mammalian species, as well as 17 species of birds and possibly some species of fish and shellfish. It can be isolated from soil, silage and other environmental sources. L. monocytogenes is quite hardy and resists the effects of freezing, drying and heat remarkably well for a bacterium that does not form spores.

Evidence has been reported that dietary consumption of plants and plant products that are rich in tannins, such as cocoa, wine, tea and berries, can be related to protective effects against cardiovascular disease and certain forms of cancer.

All year we look forward with anticipation to the summer; when the days are longer and warmer and we can enjoy a long-awaited holiday in the sun. Throughout Europe each region enjoys its own celebration of the season with barbeques, chilled drinks by the sea and picnics with friends, but a universal symbol of summer – and a food that is enjoyed the world over – is ice cream. Though advances have been made in formulations, ingredients and manufacturing equipment, product quality – as ever – must remain constant. But how is this ensured? New Food spoke with Chris Ing, Quality Assurance Manager at Wall’s in the UK to find out.

With the multitude of products on today’s supermarket shelves, there is increasing pressure among manufacturers to set themselves apart in the eyes of the consumer. Packaging has the crucial task of making that all-important first impression, which can mean the difference between a sale or not.

Food legislation is a complex matter. Since the publication of the White Paper on Food Safety in 2000, a considerable number of Regulations, Directives and Guidelines on the safety of food and feed – including ingredients – have been published. For companies involved in food and feed and ingredients production, trade and transport, it is not always easy to keep information about food and feed legislation up to date. Moreover, it is not that simple to apply and to interpret this legislation.