Flor ida Associat ion for Food Protect ion Fal l Issue
2012
Member Spotlight—
Dr. Michelle Danyluk
Board of Directors:
President - Jenny Lahnoudi Walt Disney World Co.
President Elect - Tim Westbrook Publix Super Markets, Inc.
Vice President - Ken Tyrrell Chem-star Corporation
Treasurer - Rick Barney: Sweetbay Super Markets
Secretary - David Calabrase - Sani Professional
Past President - Michelle Danyluk: University of Florida
Directors:
Eric Martin - Jimmy Buffett’s Mar-garitaville
Zeb E. Blanton, Jr. - SGS North America
Yoseline Torres - ICertainty
Gillian Dagan - ABC Research
Marjorie Jones - NSF International
Angelica O’Shaughnessy - BioMerieux
Jeff Leever - Carlson Restaurants
Directors at Large:
Tony Febbraro - Microbica Labo-ratory Partners, Inc
Diane Kelsch - FDA
Affiliate Representative - Peter Hibbard: Darden Restaurants, Inc.
Newsletter Editor - Jennifer Walker: Walmart
FA F P C O N N E C T I O N S
Salmonella in
Peanut Butter?
What’s Going on
Here?
Rachel McEgan
On October 5, 2012, the
FDA confirmed finding
Salmonella in environ-
mental swabs taken at a
nut butter production fa-
cility run by Sunland Inc.
All products made in that
facility between March 1,
2010 and September 24,
2012 have been recalled.
This was in response to an
outbreak of Salmonella
Bredeney, initially an-
nounced September 22,
2012. So far there have
been 35 confirmed cases
Our Mission: To provide Food Safety Professionals worldwide with a forum to exchange
information on protecting the food supply.
Where Are They Now?
FAFP at IAFP
2 - 3
FAFP News, Mem-
bers & Sponsors
5-7
Inside this issue:
Get to know past FAFP President Dr. Michelle Dany-luk. She gave us a her insight on the experience of panel inter-views for a PhD and benefits of being a member of FAFP. When did you join FAFP? I joined FAFP in the spring of 2007, when I started my position at the University of Florida. I had been watching the FAFP skit at the IAFP
business meeting for years, and was excited to join the group. My first involve-ment was stuffing the bags for the 2007 IAFP meeting at Disney. My second was wearing the bright yellow shirt and silly Mickey hands and directing folks to regis-tration; quite an initiation to FAFP. What benefits do you get from being a member of FAFP? I find tremendous value with my FAFP member-ship. It was extremely valu-able meeting so many folks in the Florida Food Indus-try when I first moved here.
Now FAFP is like a family to me, I never leave a meeting or luncheon without learning something new. What company do you work for and for how long? I’m currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida. I submitted my ten-ure packet this summer, so hopefully next year, I’ll be granted tenure and promoted to Associate Professor. What do you like most about your job? There are two things I love
(Continued on page 3)
of salmonellosis (the dis-
ease caused by Salmo-
nella) in 19 states through-
out the US. From these
illnesses, eight persons
have been hospitalized (1).
Based on investigations by
state, local, and federal
public health agencies,
Trader Joe’s Valencia
Creamy Salted Peanut
Butter made with Sea Salt,
manufactured by Sunland
Inc of Portales, New Mex-
ico is the likely source of
the outbreak. The out-
break strain has been iso-
lated from any open jar of
(Continued on page 4)
FAFP Connections Page 2
Where Are They
Now?
Past FAFP President Natalie Dyen-
son gives our members an overview
of the recent publication on GFSI in
the Journal for Food Protection and
what she’s been up to since being
involved with FAFP.
The Journal for Food Protection
Volume 74 edition recently featured
a publication titled ‘Companies’ Opin-
ions and Acceptance of Global Food Safety
Initiative Benchmarks after Implementa-
tion. Natalie was part of a group of
individuals (Phil Crandall, Ellen J.
Van Loo, Corliss A. O’Bryan, Andy
Mauromoustakos, Frank Yiannas
and Irina Berdnik) who authored the
aforementioned article. This team
presented a study that evaluated the
impact of a retailer (Walmart) requir-
ing suppliers to become GFSI com-
pliant.
The article states “GFSI provides
real-time information to manage
food safety, minimize risks from
foodborne pathogens, manage costs
associated with establishing a dy-
namic and effective food safety cul-
ture, and maintain consumer confi-
dence in our food and retail indus-
tries (2, 3). Each approved GFSI
food safety scheme is now bench-
marked against a common criterion
to create a harmonized and verified
control system to produce and de-
liver safe foods (1).”
According to the study, “most sup-
pliers agreed that GFSI required a
more carefully documented food
safety management system, which
often required improved company
food safety practices and increased
employee training (1).” The study
concluded that “opportunities exist
for worldwide retailers and suppliers
to understand the savings and bene-
fits associated with a single, interna-
tionally recognized food safety certi-
fication program (1).” To read the
full article, IAFP subscribers can go
to www.foodprotection.org.
So what is Natalie up to now a days?
She is currently the Senior Director,
Supplier Food Safety at Walmart.
Below, she talks about what her job
entails, what she most enjoys about
her job, life after FAFP and what she
has coming up next.
Tells our members about yourself.
Natalie: I lead the Supplier Food
Safety Team for Walmart Stores, Inc.
which includes support of products sold
at Walmart stores and Sam’s Club
locations in the US and Puerto Rico.
My team is responsible for setting sup-
plier expectations, holding suppliers
accountable to those expectations, work-
ing with the suppliers on issues resolu-
tion (including complaints, recalls and
regulatory inquiries) and developing
additional supplier food safety programs
and/or requirements to further reduce
risk early in the supply chain. In addi-
tion, my team also supports our food
safety teams located in international
markets around the world including
Africa, Asia and throughout Latin
America.
What do you enjoy most about your
job as it relates to food safety?
Natalie: I enjoy the opportunity to work with different suppliers manufac-turing a wide range of foods in locations around the world. It is very rewarding to see the global impact of the work we are doing here in Bentonville. For ex-ample, in the four years I have been with Walmart, we have worked with more than 4,000 facilities to get them aligned with the Global Food Safety Initiative. In addition, by working with our international partners in other countries, more than 70% of all suppli-ers of Walmart owned private brands sold at any Walmart banner around the world are now GFSI certified. I also very much enjoy being able to make such a positive impact on the health of our consumers through industry leading initiatives that significantly reduce pub-lic health risk. Our beef safety initia-tive launched nearly three years ago and required all of our suppliers of ground beef products and raw materials used in ground beef to achieve specific process control standards for the reduction (up to 5 logs) of relevant enteric microorgan-isms through implementation of a scien-tifically validated intervention or series of interventions. As a result, we have seen a 75% reduction over the past two years in the number of class I recalls in ground beef products. We also worked on a deli meat Listeria
control initiative and an extensive re-
view of sprout industry process controls
(Continued on page 3)
Natalie Dyenson
FAFP Connections Page 3
about my job. The first of which is working with students, and especially graduate students with a focus on of food safety. Sharing my knowledge with them, and seeing them gain confidence in their own knowledge and their own opinions is tremen-dously rewarding. The opportunity to share their work with the other members of FAFP and see all they gain from their interactions with FAFP members is an invaluable ex-perience. My research laboratory focuses on applied produce safety issues; the work we are doing that can have a real impact on the safety of Florida commodities is exciting. What is your most memorable day of your career? My most memorable day in food safety was the day I passed my PhD qualifying exam. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the process, during your time as a PhD student, you need to pass an oral qualifying exam to become a PhD candidate; its designed to be especially awful (I can say this now that I’m on the other side of the fence and subject my students to the same thing). The student stands before a panel of 4-6 faculty who can ask them any ques-tions they want related to food safety or anything they may have studied since they were an under-grad, and continue to ask questions until the student becomes uncom-fortable, answers incorrectly, or says I don’t know. No one feels good after one of these exams, even if they do well and pass; I certainly didn’t. What makes this day so memorable, is that its designed to prepare you for the rest of your ca-reer. Every time I pick up my phone or read an email someone might be asking me a question I’m uncom-fortable with or don’t know the an-swer to, but have to answer anyways.
(Continued from page 1) When I’m in these situations now, I remember back to my qualifying exam and how it prepared me to know I could handle being in it again. What do you like to do in your spare time? I’m going to take this time to encour-age you all to listen to my friends Don Shaffner and Ben Chapman’s pod cast - Food Safety Talk. You can download it from iTunes® or find it at http://www.foodsafetytalk.com/. It’s pretty amusing and as they’ve both spoken at FAFP meetings, they’ve been known to make FAFP references. If you get a moment, check it out. For more information on Dr. Dany-luk and her program at the Univer-sity Florida, check out http://fshn.ifas.ufl.edu/pages/danyluk.shtml
and supplier partnerships to pursue
better testing methods and interventions
for a safer product.
What about your current involve-
ment with IAFP or your local State
chapter?
Natalie: I’m still involved in IAFP
both attending meetings and participat-
ing as a symposia presenter. I am also
a founding member of the Arkansas
Association for Food Protection
(AAFP) and am serving my 3rd term
on the Board of Directors for AAFP.
What’s next?
(Continued from page 2)
Natalie: I am now working on a second
article with researchers at three different
nationally recognized institutions to
evaluate the public health risk reduction
impact of our deli meat initiative.
We look forward to your next publi-cation. References:
1. Crandall, P.G., Van Loo, E.J.,
O’Bryan, C.A., Mauromousta-
kos, A., Yiannas, F., Dyenson,
N., Berdnik, I. 2012. Compa-
nies’ Opinions and Acceptance
of Global Food Safety Initiative
Benchmarks after Implementa-
tion. Journal of Food Protection,
Vol. 75, No. 9, 2012 Pages 1660-
1672.
2. Global Food Safety Initiative.
2011. Welcome to the Global
Food Safety Initiative. Available
at: http://www.mygfsi.com/.
Accessed 20 June 2011.
3. Global Food Safety Initiative.
2011. Guidance document, 6th
ed. Available at: http://
www.mygfsi.com/information-
resources/
gfsiguidancedocumentssixthedi-
tion.html. Accessed 20 March
2011.
FAFP Connections Page 4
No Surprise, FAFP was a Big Hit at IAFP!
The International Association for Food Protection ‘Affiliate View’
Volume 17, Issue 4 featured a boisterous picture of the FAFP Board
Members at the IAFP Business Meeting held in Rhode Island. FAFP
President Jenny Lahnoudi apologized to the crowd that FAFP would
not be performing one of their infamous skits due to budget con-
straints. The meeting was then interrupted by none other than the
FAFP Board Members decked out in past skit costumes.
It wasn’t all fun and games at IAFP. Five awards were given to Affili-
ates for their efforts and achievements. Of the five awards, FAFP
received two: the C.B. Shogren Memorial Award and Best Affiliate
Overall Meeting.
Thank you to all who make FAFP such a success!
Photos from the IAFP Affiliate View: Volume 17, Issue 4. Fall 2012.
From left: Zeb Blanton, Yoseline Torres, Eric Martin,
Jenny Lahnoudi, Michelle Danyluk, Angelica O’Shaugh-
nessy, Marjorie Jones, Ken Tyrell and Peter Hibbard.
Accepting the Best Affiliate Overall Meeting from GloriaSwick-Brown: Eric Martin, Gloria Swick-Brown, Past President Michelle Danyluk, Peter Hibbard and Zeb Blanton.
C.B. Shogren Memorial Award was accepted by Peter Hibbard,
(presented by Gloria Swick-Brown), 2011-2012 Past President
Michelle Danyluk, current President Jenny Lahnoudi, and Eric
Martin.
the peanut butter taken from a case-
patient’s home.
Many of us remember other peanut
butter borne Salmonella outbreaks
over the last decade. In 2006-2007,
a Salmonella Tennessee outbreak
occurred and was linked back to
peanut butter; 425 persons were
infected with 71 of them requiring
hospitalization (2). Again, we saw
a salmonellosis outbreak involving
peanut butter in 2008-2009, this
time with Salmonella Typhi-
(Continued from page 1) murium and involved not only pea-
nut butter, but also many products
that contained ingredients processed
in the same facility. In this out-
break, a confirmed 714 persons
were infected (4). Over the past
decade, we have seen a lot of ill-
nesses from a product traditionally
thought to be far too inhospitable
for the survival of human patho-
gens. So what is happening here?
While the link between Salmonella
and a food so far away from the
traditionally assumed vectors of
poultry and egg products, peanut
butter may not actually be that sur-
prising of a vehicle for Salmonella
after all…
Salmonella is a bacterium that can
cause disease in both humans and
animals. It can also be carried with-
out symptoms in many food ani-
mals (chickens, pigs, cattle). Sal-
monella is also capable of surviv-
ing in the environment, including
soil and water, and on inanimate
surfaces, such as those found in
(Continued on page 5)
FAFP Connections Page 5
processing facilities, for an extraor-
dinary length of time.
Even though we may not conven-
tionally think of peanut butter as
having any possible association
with Salmonella, careful thought
regarding the sources and processes
involved in peanut butter produc-
tion can challenge that view. Sal-
monella contamination can occur
during many stages of peanut butter
production. Salmonella introduced
in the soil through the addition of
manure or through irrigation can
survive for months or years, con-
taminating peanuts growing under-
ground (3). More opportunity for
contamination may occur during
harvest, transportation, or storage.
After harvest, transportation, and
storage, peanuts are first roasted
then ground into peanut butter. The
typical roasting process has the pea-
nuts reaching 350ºF (180ºC) (3).
This temperature should destroy
any Salmonella that could have
been present on the raw peanuts.
Further processing, such as grinding
and blending, does not reach tem-
peratures sufficient to destroy Sal-
monella, so that any contamination
after roasting could potentially sur-
vive until the consumer. In fact,
reports have suggested Salmonella
can survive at least 6 months in
peanut butter. Peanut butter in the
home is a ready-to-eat product, no
further kill step can be assumed. So
we can see how it is very conceiva-
bly possible for peanut butter to
cause an outbreak of salmonellosis
if there was a breakdown in SSOPs
and GMPs in the processing facility
or an adequate HACCP plan is not
developed and maintained for the
monitoring of the roasting step.
Keep in mind, we should never
judge an entire industry on someone
else’s mistake, peanut butters not
(Continued from page 4) involved in the current recall can
still be safely eaten… so go ahead
and enjoy another PB&J sandwich.
Bredeney, Tennessee, Typhi-
murium...what are they talking
about? These are different serovars
of Salmonella. Almost all the Sal-
monella serovars cause the same
disease once consumed by a hu-
man. That is, diarrhea, fever, and
abdominal cramps that last 4 to 7
days. Serovars are distinguished
from each other through surface
markers which occur in different
combinations on each of the over
2,500 known Salmonella serovars.
This process is done using antibod-
ies that are able to selectively rec-
ognize and bind with only one spe-
cific surface marker. After the se-
rovar is determined, ‘DNA finger-
prints’ are compared to determine
if the isolates from each suspected
illness are related enough to have
likely came form the same original
source. This is how it is deter-
mined if a case of salmonellosis is
in fact related to an ongoing out-
break or if it has likely come from
another source. Without determin-
ing the serovar, it would be diffi-
cult to determine if an outbreak
was in fact occurring, or if the re-
ported incidences of disease were
sporadic cases.
References.
1. Anonymous. 2012. Multistate
outbreak of Salmonella Bre-
deney infections linked to pea-
nut butter manufactured by
Sunland, Inc. http://
www.cdc.gov/salmonella/
bredeney-09-12/index.html.
Accessed 20 October 2012.
2. Anonymous. 2007. Multistate
outbreak of Salmonella sero-
type Tennessee infections asso-
ciated with peanut butter -
United States, 2006-2007
(Reprinted from MMWR, vol
56, pg 521, 2007). Jama-
Journal of the American Medi-
cal Association. 298:33-35.
3. Cavallaro E, Date K, Medus
C, Meyer S, Miller B, Kim C,
Nowicki S, Cosgrove S, Sweat
D, Phan Q, Flint J, Daly ER,
Adams J, Hyytia-Trees E,
Gerner-Smidt P, Hoekstra
RM, Schwensohn C, Langer
A, Sodha SV, Rogers MC,
Angulo FJ, Tauxe RV, Wil-
liams IT, Behravesh CB. Sal-
monella Typhimurium Infec-
tions Associated with Peanut
Products. N.Engl. J. Med.
365:601-610.
4. Lang L. 2009. Food and Drug
Administration Web Page on
Salmonella and Peanut Butter.
Gastroenterology. 136:1131-
1132.
Rachel McEgan is a PhD candidate
at the University of Florida’s Citrus
and Research and Education Center
and is also the FAFP fall scholar-
ship recipient.
FAFP
News… Nominations for
the FAFP Board
were recently
sent out. This is
your opportunity to submit a nomi-
nation to be active in FAFP.
FAFP has approved a grant pro-
posal of $4,000 to The Partnership
for Food Safety Education. The
grant was approved by the Officers
and Board of Directors to support
the development of a bilingual 20-
minute learning activity for use by
kids, parents, teachers and after
school educators to be shared on
the Partnership’s website at
www.fightbac.org.
FAFP Connections Page 6
Join Discussions and Check out the FAFP Group on Linkedin.com
Florida Association for Food Protec-tion Group on Linkedin.com is a great way to join online food safety, regulatory, environmental, and public health related discussions, meet other FAFP members and keep up to date on the newest trends and issues.
Become a Member
of FAFP
We are always looking for
people interested in joining
our organization
Who Can Join? The Florida Association for Food Protection is looking for professionals in the Food Industry to join us in enhanc-ing the level of education, service and commitment for Food Safety Officials in Industry, Govern-ment and Academia within the State of Florida. Benefits of Joining Your membership demonstrates your support and commitment to promoting food safety in Florida. It helps the Association in the develop-ment of procedures, new legislation, ideas and methods. Your member-ship allows us to educate food safety professionals in all areas, advancing our knowledge and awareness of safe food handling. How Can You Join? To join, we need a completed appli-cation and membership dues for the first year. Please contact us for more information and a membership application at: [email protected], or check out our website at www.fafp.net.
FAFP Remembers...
We were sorry to hear that FAFP member Melissa Mundo passed away on September 29, 2012.
Melissa became a member of FAFP in 2008 and worked for Duda Farm Fresh Foods. Melissa was also
an active member of IAFP. Our sympathy and thoughts go out to her family and friends.
ABC Research Laboratories - Lori Stephens
CleanX-Press - Brian Rockwell
Diamond Systems - Ramon Rivera Driscoll’s - Amanda Turgeau
Dundee Citrus Growers Associa-tion - John Marshall
Eurofins Analytical Testing Cen-ter - Supat Sirivicha, PhD
Flying Food Group - Gregory Adams Greek Island Spice - Joshua Bar-tram
Lee Memorial Health Systems - Pat Agent
Lucy Mollan
N2N Global - Veronica Nardone
Paul Miller
ShockWatch, Cold Chain Solu-tions - Joe Garcia
The Packers of Indian River, LTD - Thomas Stopyra
University of Florida - Jessica Lepper
Anne Gossin
Martha Roberts
Anita Wright
Whole Foods Market - Jamie Irwin
FAFP Connections Page 7
Our Valued Corporate Sponsors Their support allows us to bring you the high level of education and information on our Web Page,
Luncheons, Newsletter and Annual Education Conference.
Gold Sponsors: Chemstar Corporation Ecolab/ Kay Chemicals
Diversey Eurofins Food Safety Systems Orkin Commercial Services
Proctor & Gamble Professional Publix Super Markets Inc.
Sani Professional Winn Dixie Stores, Inc.
Silver Sponsors:
Central Seafood Co., Inc. D.L. Newslow & Associates
Sani Professional SGS United States Testing Company
Sweetbay Super Markets
Bronze Sponsors: Advanced Fresh Concepts Duda Farm Fresh Foods EHA Consulting Group
Hospitality Resource Supply, Inc. Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Microbica Laboratory Partners
NSF International Sensitech Inc.
The Steritech Group, Inc.
If you are interested in being a Corporate Sponsor, please contact Zeb Blanton, Jr., P.O. Box
160032, Altamonte Springs, FL, 32716, (407) 682-4720 or by e-mail at [email protected] and ask for
Corporate Sponsorship information.