K A S H R U T . C O M_©

Staff of life can pose food safety dangers

September 23, 2016: The FoodSafetyNews:

"Flour is derived from a grain that comes directly from the field and typically is not treated to kill bacteria. So if an animal heeds the call of nature in the field, bacteria from the animal waste could contaminate the grain, which is then harvested and milled into flour." "The previous use of cropland is part of the food-safety equation."
The wheat cleaning process "involves removing unwanted objects, such as stones, pieces of metal, and kernels with color differences. It is, however, not designed to remove foodborne pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella."
"In fact, nowhere in the milling process does that happen, although food safety standards are followed when it comes to keeping equipment and trucks clean, training employees, abiding by good manufacturing practices, and conducting an analysis of possible contamination points in the process."
"Milling is a simple, mechanical process." "It doesn’t address microbial pathogens."
"Even though CDC warns the public that flour is actually a raw, uncooked food, most people don’t see it that way."
"Flour, especially white flour, doesn’t look raw. It looks processed. And the very process of milling wheat into flour can spread contamination from a few wheat kernels to large quantities of flour."
"It’s extremely rare for people to become ill from eating flour for one simple reason: Flour is rarely eaten raw. Instead, it’s added to other ingredients and baked, fried, boiled or microwaved, which generally kills pathogens. But with raw dough, there is no kill step."

Myths from Ardent Mills Flour food Safety

• "MYTH: Pathogens such as Salmonella are not of importance to low-moisture ingredients such as flour simply because these ingredients do not support its growth."
  "FACT: Salmonella does not need to grow to cause illness. In some instances, infection has occurred from consuming low-moisture products contaminated with less that 1 cfu/g. It’s also important, says Akins, to note that flour may be added to ingredients such as batters and mixes that are more conducive to growth."
• "MYTH: Sample testing is a reliable way to assure food safety."
  "FACT: Microbiological testing of a production lot of a food product does not guarantee that the entire lot is pathogen-free. Production lots of flour are usually very large, so only a fraction of a lot can be tested. Pathogens generally are not homogeneously distributed throughout the lot; they tend to clump together in groups.

"This means that a sample tested for a pathogen can test negative when other areas in the same lot may contain pathogens. Considering how much testing would be needed, is not realistic because it’s cost prohibitive."

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Recall & Advice to Consumers & Retailers from the CDC on the Multistate Outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli Infections Linked to Flour

A link tinformation on the multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infections linked to flour from the is here. (posted September 28, 2016).