Every so often it may be worth taking a deeper look at how your operation runs and how it is protected from risk. The old adage of ‘wash your hands’ is the key to prevent the spread of contamination or fish diseases. The latest meeting in July of the “Codex Alimentarius” – the global food standards commission under the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization, brings us up to date with some chemical risks too.
Acrylamide and smoked
Back in 2002 the Swedish National Food Administration stumbled on the occurrence of a potential cancer-causing agent, acrylamide, which seemed to be the product of a chemical reaction when carbohydrates were cooked in a certain way at higher temperatures. Tests found it at high levels in a large range of foods.
The experts are now planning to put out new guidelines to provide “…national and local authorities, manufacturers and others with guidance to prevent and reduce formation of acrylamide in potato products during all phases of the production process. The guidance includes strategies for raw materials, the addition of other ingredients; and food processing and heating. The chemical acrylamide…is produced during frying, roasting and baking of carbohydrate-rich foods, such as French fries, potato crisps, coffee, biscuits, pastries and breads,” WHO said.
Fish in the smoked sector, which is more likely to be the focus of small business and traditional methods, needs to keep an eye on the first ever guidelines which will be offered for the “Reduction of contamination with Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons” (PAH). Parts of PAH can cause cancer when the fuel is burnt and also during the drying. The Commission says that “Because smoking and direct drying processes are used both in industry and in private households, the guidance can also form the basis of consumer education programs.”
That suggestion is probably a dynamic way of making marketing work to promote a product. As more teenagers are learning to cook at school, and they also know more about chemistry than their parents generally, the assessment of risk and the delights of tasty smoked fish can go together. Children are often the best route through to convincing parents what they should buy. By bringing a factual analysis of risk assessment through children into the home, adults who buy the product will consider the whole picture when buying smoked fish, and not just reject it out of hand on the basis of poor information from the general press.
This leads us on to labelling. The better your labelling and sourcing information the more that buyers, particularly the better informed, younger ones, will decide whether they want to buy your processed product. All levels of the processing industry use various elements to add flavour to the core material, from fish pie to fish in a sauce. The obvious allergen warning is where nuts may have been used. Yet, while the promotion of ‘anti-obesity’ is widespread, it tends to be guided by packaging information. So a buyer may be tempted only to look for sugar and fat content.
Yet, some buyers may be much more interested in buying something because of what the processor has put into the sauce in terms of adding special flavours for the particular recipe from a particular country. So that becomes a marketing plus. One might put in this context the Commission’s decision to adopt regional standards for ginseng products, fermented soybean paste and gochujang.
The processing and retail industry should also consider health and safety in terms of what may go with a fish dish – tartare sauce is an obvious case. So there are good reasons for fish processors to talk to the sauce manufacturers about their approach to food content and preparation so they can even recommend each other’s products and share research costs.
Packaging and cooking information which mentions the cold chain may encourage some buyers to prefer one brand from another which may only offer the sell-by-date information. So while your chain, from the ice-slurry through to your wholesaler and factory processor may be fine, you may not be too sure how good the retail end is and you should be interested in that. Many small corner shop outlets may stock small supplies of fish and fish meals in their freezers for longer than a supermarket. The sell by date does not tell the whole story. If they buy from 'cash and carries', there is always a chance that there may be a delay for them being put into the shop freezer – not the case where a dedicated, refrigerated truck delivers to a supermarket cool room or straight into displays during the night.
Ready-to-eat bugs
The last thing you want is your customers tucking into ready-to-eat bugs such as Listeria because you allowed the chain to be contaminated (it can start with poor onboard processing). So, the Commission adopted criteria for “microbiological testing and environmental monitoring for Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods”. It said there is now a maximum level for certain foods where the bacteria cannot grow; and, in ready-to-eat products where growth is possible, “no Listeria monocytogenes will be allowed”. It added that “The parameters will help producers control and prevent contamination of Ready-to-Eat Foods with this bacterium that can result in listeriosis, a potentially fatal disease. While healthy people rarely contract listeriosis, it can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, as well as serious and sometimes fatal infections in those with weakened immune systems, such as infants, the elderly and persons with HIV infection or undergoing chemotherapy”.
Salmonella is of course a much more familiar bug and food poisoning and diarrhoea from it continue to grow as fast food and sandwich shops and reheating machines are used in service stations etc. So, when watching your role in the food chain, and the role of others, you should keep it in mind that it is often spread through poor handling.
Let us say also that a mother may perhaps add some milk powder with water to make a fish mash more palatable for a young child and to give body to the mash and as a way to get more protein into the child.
That may seem harmless enough, but the Commission also adopted specific criteria for salmonella and other bacteria in powdered follow-up formulae for children six months of age or older. World Fishing also wonders whether there may not be some industrially processed, ready-to-eat products which use powdered milk in their formulation, for example sauces to go with fish dishes.
The Commission is particularly concerned about E.Sakazakii in formula for infants and ‘follow-up formula’.
The ‘add some extra value’ thinking of many parents can be seen from the fact that the Commission said: of ‘follow-up formulae’: “Unfortunately, they are often consumed by babies younger than six months of age” and said this was product misuse. Millions of Chinese mothers are now watching for melamine and not just in milk.
