Food Microbiology Risk Reduction Program for Rutgers Dining Halls

1. Food Microbiology Risk Reduction Program for Rutgers Dining Halls

2. Why? • Monitor microbial quality • Database • Identify and correct problems • Foods, employee training, vendors, equipment • Large operations = risk • Required by law and/or for consumer satisfaction

3. Food Microbiology Risk Reduction Project • 1970’s large food poisoning outbreak at Rutgers University • Dr. Myron Solberg (1931-2001) was asked to establish a food safety program to prevent this from occurring again • The current program has been under Dr. Schaffner’s supervision since 2000

4. Brower Commons Busch Neilson Tillett Dudley's Dunkin' Donuts The Rock Sbarro Douglass Café Rutgers Faculty Club Brower Faculty Tillett Faculty Busch Faculty Facilities inspected

5. Project activities • Unannounced visits to two dining halls and two smaller facilities per week • Sanitation audits • Hot and cold temperature audits • Food microbiology testing • Reports sent to managers and University sanitarian • Weekly troubleshooting, yearly trend analysis, special projects as needed

6. 1. Sanitation audit • Entire facility • Food preparation area, serving lines, storage room, refrigerators, dish washing, employees, equipment, etc. • If problem is observed, corrective action is logged on the spot • Manager signs report on site

7. Example audit questions • Cross-contamination!

8. Yearly report • Overall scores • Question-specific compliance (“Top ten problems”)

9. 2. Temperature audit • Take temperatures of foods in the line • Salad Bar, Deli, Entrée, raw foods, etc. • If cold holding, record tray material (metal or plastic) and cooling method (ice bath or refrigeration unit)

10. Temperature audit cont. • Identify and correct problems • Equipment malfunction, personnel training • Take “out of temperature” food samples to the lab (8 per week) for microbiology testing

11. Food Poisoning Outbreak Risk Factors (CDC 1988-97)

12. Yearly report • General hot and cold holding temperatures frequency and compliance • Holding temperatures per food

13. 3. Microbiology testing Indicators of: • Sanitation • Good Manufacturing Practices • Total aerobic counts • Coliforms, fecal coliforms, generic E. coli

14. Pathogens: • Staphylococcus aureus • Bacillus cereus • Clostridium perfringens • Salmonella spp. • Listeria spp. • Pathogenic E. coli

15. Total Aerobic Plate Count S. aureus Listeria B. cereus Coliforms Fecal Coliforms E. coli Salmonella Pathogenic E. coli Clostridium

16. Staphylococcus aureus Bacillus cereus

17. Coliforms and E. coli

18. Standards

19. Yearly report • Pathogens detected • Bacillus cereus • “Problem” foods • High total aerobic counts • Coliforms detected

20. Special projects • Initiated in response to problems identified through routine monitoring • Comparison water and disinfectant in tomatoes • Microbial quality of cutting boards • Studies on hand washing

21. Conclusions • Prevention, problems identification and history of food safety • Since the program was initiated in the 1970’s, there have been no reported cases of food poisoning at any Rutgers University dining facility • Scores improve over the years

22. QUESTIONS?....