In spite of the documented success of Pathogen Reduction and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (PR/HACCP) at the processing level, farm-level and retail-level application is optional. Several factors impact the gap of food safety regulations from farm to fork. This thesis focuses on the retail level. At the retail level, pathogen survival and the associated ability to cause further disease to humans even after being subjected to certain processing and packaging conditions have varying implications on the probability of sickness or death. This issue also arises over the fact that, sometimes, appropriate handling and processing instructions are not properly followed by consumers. The primary goals of the project are to develop an optimal food safety intervention strategy that incorporates risk, cost, and the value of pathogen reduction with alternative control mechanism. We wish to evaluate incentives for PR/HACCP-like planning and adherence to best management practices that promote safe food production. These incentives will be evaluated for the retail level. In addition, we will develop optimal intervention strategies for ready-to-eat meats and poultry products that incorporate risk assessment, cost of intervention, and the value of risk reduction of alternative strategies for the farm-to-table continuum. The model adopted in this study is an expansion of the stochastic optimization model developed by Nganje, Kaitibie, and Sorin (2005) to include the optimal intervention strategy at the retail ( consumer) level. These components are simulated with firm-level microbial data at the processing and retail level using stochastic optimizer software. Stochastic dominance was also used to compare across the optimal strategies and determine if there is one clear choice that is preferred. This allowed us incorporate risk preferences of firms. The scenario method was used to determine what factors would likely affect the adoption of PR/HACCP at the retail level. Finally, this thesis provides firms and policymakers a direction for future options concerning risk mitigation strategies.

Agroterrorism is the deliberate introduction of a plant or animal disease with thegoal of causing fear, economic instability, illness, or death. After the 2002 terroristattacks on the World Trade Center, the security of the food supply is of increasingconcern to the United States. A major incidence of agroterrorism or food tampering would have far reaching impacts on the economy and public health. The first objective of this project was to determine knowledge and concern of agroterrorism in meat processing facilities in Kentucky, and to determine knowledge and concern of food tampering and food defense in food service establishments in Warren County, Kentucky. The second objective was to determine security strategies that were being implemented by these facilities. Two separate surveys, one for meat processors and the other for food service establishments, were designed to meet these objectives. An observational study was conducted for meat processing facilities. It was found that these facilities were generally unconcerned with agroterrorism, although a reasonable amount of security implementations were in place at these facilities. A statistical comparison between restaurants and non-restaurant food service establishments, such as schools, hospitals, and hotels, was performed. Both types of food service establishments expressed little concern about a food tampering event. Non- restaurant food service establishments were slightly more concerned than restaurants about both food tampering and food defense.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Government and Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

The demand for deep fried chips by public and the number of people entering the fast food industry in the form of fast food outlets has increased tremendously. Frying oils are very expensive and are the most important ingredient used in the preparation of fried foods. Due to high oil costs and lack of knowledge, frying oils are used to their maximum. This has resulted in the abuse of deep fried chip cooking oils. The overall quality of the deep fried chip cooking oil used in the South Central Operational Entity of the eThekwini Municipality is not known but abused cooking oils have been identified by Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP's) during routine inspections of fast food outlets. Considering all of the above, the objectives of the proposed research were: (l) Determine the overall prevalence of the use of abused deep fried chip cooking oils at fast food outlets in the South Central Operational Entity of the eThekwini Municipality. (2) Determine in which supervision areas in the South Central Operational Entity the use of abused cooking oil is most prevalent. (3) Determine current/reported practices in preserving the quality of chip oil. (4) Make appropriate recommendations to owner/managers of the fast food outlets and to Environmental Health Practitioners. The study design was observational utilizing a Rapid Epidemiological Assessment (REA) technique, with both a descriptive and analytical component. All fast food outlets making deep fried chips in the South Central Operational Entity registered with the eThekwini Health Department at the time of the study were included in the study population. The Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) method was used to determine the overall prevalence of the use of abused oil and to determine supervision areas reached the predetermined service target. A total of 100 fast food outlets were sampled. An oil sample from each fast food outlet, which was taken and sent to a laboratory where an Oxifrit Test was done on every oil sample taken. The Oxifrit Test was the benchmark in this study. EHP's of eThekwini Municipality collected further data by means of an observational checklist and a closed-ended questionnaire, which aimed to establish cooking oil preservation practices. The study revealed that 60 of the outlets had oil that was acceptable whereas 40 had oil that was unacceptable (abused oil). In the multivariate analysis the only factors significantly associated with abused oil were the condition of the fryer and frequency of oil change. Supervision Areas 6, and 4 had more abused deep fried chip cooking oil than average in the South Central Operational Entity. For further prioritization, Supervision Areas 6 and 4 fell below the decision rule for majority of acceptable oil preservation practices, thus Supervision Areas 6 and 4 will be targeted for intervention. Intervention will include education, monitoring and ultimately enforcing the law by EHP's to ensure safe use of deep fried chip cooking oil in the South Central Operational Entity within eThekwini Municipality. / Thesis (M.P.H.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

The risk of poor food safety is a major focus for managers in the food manufacturing industry. Despite industry-led and regulatory efforts to improve the overall food safety of US packaged consumer foods, product recalls and market withdrawals are increasing. This is especially true for the most frequent cause for food recall: the undeclared allergen. With industry trends leaning toward adoption of third-party food safety management certifications, a popular food safety code from the Safe Quality Foods Institute is evaluated using Systems Analysis. Three changes to the food safety code are proposed to address three of the top causes for an allergen-related recall in the United States. In practice, the SQF code should make better use of control theory to reduce delays in production monitoring activities, should make better use of purposeful action in the implementation of a HACCP plan to ensure continuing validity of the plan, and SQFI needs to consider adding an organizational assessment for food safety culture.