Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

UPDATES AT VIRGINIA TECH

FFA Career Development Event

The Department of Food Science and Technology hosted the FFA Food Science and Technology Career Development Event on October 3 rd . Teams of four from 6 Virginia high schools participated in Food Science learning activities related to the food industry.

Teams took an objective test designed to evaluate each member's understanding of the basic principles of food science.

Teams then received a marketing scenario describing a need for a new or redesigned product. This year's challenge was to develop a cereal product that targeted active women between the ages of 25 and 45. Teams developed a product formulation, package design, nutrition label, identified production and packaging equipment needed, and addressed potential quality control and assurance issues.

Students also participated in sensory testing, food safety/sanitation problem identification, and they had to handle a consumer complaint letter addressed to a food processing company.

Fort Defiance High School earned 3 rd place in the contest, Central High School won 2 nd place, and Augusta County's Buffalo Gap High School took first place in the competition and will go on to Indianapolis, IN to participate in the 79 th annual National FFA Convention to be held on October 25 th through the 28 th . This group will be among more than 50,000 FFA members and guests to visit Conseco Fieldhouse, the RCA Dome, the Indianapolis Convention Center and the Indiana State Fairgrounds. They will attend general sessions with motivational speakers, special guests, and FFA members from around the nation will be recognized for their outstanding achievements. Congratulations on your achievement Buffalo Gap!

State Fair of Virginia

The State Fair was held from September 28 th through October 8th at the Richmond Raceway Complex. Several graduate students and staff from the Department of Food Science and Technology spent a weekend serving milk for the Virginia State Dairymen's Association. The Association sponsors the ‘Milk Booth' every year for the purpose of promoting the dairy industry in Virginia .

  HOT TOPICS/ CURRENT DAIRY ISSUES

  E. coli in Raw Milk

Fresno-based Organic Pastures Dairy was accused of being responsible for four children becoming sick at the end of September. The children, from three California counties, had recently consumed raw milk from the dairy.

On September 21 st , the state ordered all Organic Pastures raw whole and skim milk to be pulled immediately from store shelves, and consumers were encouraged to throw away any of the milk in their refrigerators. The recall was later extended to include raw butter, raw buttermilk, raw colostrum and raw whey produced by the dairy. Aged cheese was the only product not recalled. The company was prohibited from producing raw milk for the retail market until further notice.

Officials blamed the E. coli bacteria for the childrens' illness. During the following week, state investigators tested samples acquired from the families of the sick children, and they conducted over 600 tests of Organic Pastures' farm, cows, pasture, milking equipment and milk products. No E. coli was found in any of the samples, and the quarantine was subsequently lifted by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The children are recovering well.

Organic Pastures products are sold throughout California and online.

Petrifilm TM Listeria Plates

Listeria monocytogenes can survive and grow at refrigeration temperatures and has been found in food manufacturing plants. Seafood, fresh vegetables, and raw milk containing foods are particularly susceptible to Listeria contamination. Raw materials, which potentially carry high microbial loads, are routinely sampled and tested for the presence of Listeria . Testing for generic Listeria as an indicator of the potential presence of Listeria monocytogenes improves its detection prior to distribution into commercially produced foods.

There is an increased need for procedures that provide simple, reliable and affordable methods for Listeria detection. These procedures will replace the elaborate traditional methods listed in the FDA/FSIS Microbiology guidebook for detection and enumeration of Listeria . Until recently, the major obstacle in offering improved testing methods was gaining approval from regulating/validating agencies, such as the FDA or USDA/FSIS. Now, many of these rapid tests are being considered standard methods and/or are in the process of receiving validation approval.

3M microbiology's 3M TM Petrifilm Environmental Listeria (EL) Plate was recently validated by the AOAC Research Institute for the detection of Listeria on environmental surfaces in food processing plants. Validation studies compared the 3M Petrifilm EL Plate's performance to the USDA-FSIS Most Probable Number Method and AOAC found that the EL Plate's performance is equivalent to that of the USDA-FSIS MPN Method for detecting Listeria species on environmental surfaces such as stainless steel, plastic, ceramic tile, and sealed concrete.

The EL Plate was released in 2004 to meet an industry need: Additional information that would allow food manufacturers to more closely monitor environmental Listeria in a timely manner without negatively impacting quality assurance testing budgets. The Plate is cost-effective, allowing plants to test more than ever before using the same budget. Additionally, the EL Plate's quantitative result provides and indication of the level of Listeria contamination instead of simply identifying its presence or absence. Quantification allows plants to identify contamination sources and track growth niches over time, so that they can better detect, manage, and prevent Listeria in the environment. And results are obtained only 29 hours after sample collection, with no lengthy enrichment step. The rapid turnaround allows plants to take corrective action in a more timely manner.

The Petrifilm EL Plate is sample-ready, eliminating the need to prepare media. It has an easy-to-use procedure and fewer steps, which increases productivity and reduces labor costs, and also minimizes variability. More consistent results can be obtained. It requires minimal training and no additional equipment.

Other rapid tests include latex agglutination kits, which determine the presence or absence of Listeria . Chromatogenic media are growing in popularity due to the time and cost savings of using a single plate method for isolation and identification of specific genus and species. Rapid biochemical identification kits are also being used for additional species identification. These kits require a minimum of 24 hours for reliable results. If additional prep steps are required however, it is important to consider that there will be an increased time to confirmation.