What can I do with sensors in iAuditor?
Once you’ve connected your sensors or local weather data to iAuditor, you can continuously monitor and maintain your conditions without lifting a f...
Can anyone in my team set up sensors and alerts?
Only if you want them to. As the admin, you can control which sensors get added, what alerts are set up, and who else is able to make these changes.
Do I need to have special sensors to be able to connect the data into iAuditor?
We’re working hard to support as many types of sensors as possible! We want to make the most of any data that is important to you. If you’ve alread...
How much does it cost to set up sensors in iAuditor?
It depends. If you’ve already got sensors and you just want the data to feed into iAuditor, then there’s no added cost! We only charge for any hard...
How to tell if food is cooked?
The only way to tell if food is safely cooked is to use a food thermometer. You can’t tell if food is safely cooked by checking its color and texture. Use a food thermometer to ensure foods are cooked to a safe internal temperature.
How long can bacteria stay out of the food?
Bacteria can multiply rapidly if left at room temperature or in the “Danger Zone” between 40°F and 140°F. Never leave perishable food out for more than 2 hours (or 1 hour if exposed to temperatures above 90°F).
How long should you wash your hands before eating?
Germs that cause food poisoning can survive in many places and spread around your kitchen. Wash hands for 20 seconds with soap and water before, during, and after preparing food and before eating. Wash your utensils, cutting boards, and countertops with hot, soapy water.
How long can you leave food out of the danger zone?
Never leave perishable food out for more than 2 hours (or 1 hour if it’s hotter than 90°F outside).
What can you use separate cutting boards and plates for?
Use separate cutting boards and plates for raw meat, poultry, and seafood.
Can you thaw frozen food in the microwave?
Thaw frozen food safely in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave. Never thaw foods on the counter because bacteria multiply quickly in the parts of the food that reach room temperature.
What are the most common causes of foodborne illness?
Eradicate Common Causes of Food Safety Hazards. Globally, the most common causes of foodborne illness include contaminated water, ingredients or raw materials —and not so much chemical risks like allergens, allergen cross- contamination, or physical hazards, like glass. These illnesses are almost always caused by microbial contamination largely due ...
What is SQF Fundamentals?
3. Monitor Your Suppliers. If you’re a manufacturer and you get anything from a finished project to a raw material, you have suppliers.
Why is Romaine lettuce recalled?
Some of the romaine lettuce recalls in North America, as much as we can tell so far, were due to contaminated water in the water supply. Cross-contamination between contaminated and uncontaminated product via hands and surface is also a common cause of foodborne illnesses.
What happens if a product goes to a cook?
If your product goes to a cook, and it hasn’t been held at the right temperatures throughout the entire cook sequence, foodborne illness could result. 2. Implement Food Safety Plans. All good food safety programs need a documented food safety plan. This is the risk assessment of your process and your production methods.
Why is it important to follow good manufacturing practices?
It’s important to always follow good manufacturing practices or growing practices, if you're a grower, and proper handling procedures. Improperly cooked or handled products also contribute to foodborne illness.
Why is personal hygiene important?
Personal hygiene helps to prevent injuries and illnesses that can occur on the job, as well as outlines rules for personal cleanliness (including hand washing expectations), dictates which hand wash stations should be in place, and sets guidelines for personal behavior.
What is the importance of a good lunch space?
Having a good lunch space for people and an area for designated breaks , as well as controlling when and where visitors come and go, also has an impact on your food defense and hygiene, not just security. Including a thorough explanation of personal hygiene should be a part of any solid food safety program. 5.
What is the FDA Foods Program Compendium of Microbiological Methods?
The FDA Foods Program Compendium of microbiological methods includes the Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) and methods validated under the FDA Foods Program’s Guidelines for Validation of Analytical Methods for the Detection of Microbial Pathogens in Foods and Feeds but not yet entered into the BAM.
What is BAM in FDA?
FDA's BAM contains the agency's preferred laboratory procedures for microbiological analyses of foods and cosmetics. As new methods are validated for use in FDA laboratories, there is a delay before chapters are updated and the methods are added to the BAM. In these instances, the new methods will be listed individually on FDA’s website until ...
What is the PAM?
The PAM is a repository of analytical methods used by FDA to examine food for pesticide residues. FDA is responsible for enforcing tolerances established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the amounts of pesticide residues that may legally remain on food and animal feed in accordance with 40 CFR 180.101 (c).
What is the NSSP?
The NSSP is the federal/state cooperative program recognized by FDA and the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference (ISSC) for the sanitary control of shellfish produced and sold for human consumption. Laboratory standards and methods to support sanitary control of shellfish are identified in the NSSP Guide for the Control of Molluscan Shellfish.
What are the three sections of the FDA?
These methods may be utilized by the food industry as well. The information is divided into three sections, a chemical methods resource section, a microbiological and biological methods resource section, and a macroanalytical methods resources section. Within each section there may be multiple manuals/collections of methods and some methods may appear in more than one manual/collection. Links to methods that FDA utilizes, but that have not yet been incorporated into an official FDA manual/collection are also provided.
What is ORA manual?
The ORA Laboratory Manual provides FDA personnel with information on internal procedures to be used as an agency policy for testing consumer products, training of laboratory staff, report writing, safety, research, review of private laboratory reports and court testimony.
Is FDA method validated?
These methods may have been recently developed and not yet fully validated, cited in the past, or used briefly for collection of data. They are not necessarily validated to current FDA or equivalent standards.
Common Problems
Food handlers face a myriad of issues with regards to sanitization. Poor sanitization within the establishment could lead to disease, illness or even death. This in turn would most probably lead to loss of customers, loss of reputation, lawsuits, fines and possible business closure.
Associated Costs
Costs associated with a food establishment's sanitation policy & procedures include equipment, materials, training, and inspection fees. Special sanitation equipment may be required that must meet set standards established by state and local rules and regulations. Monitoring equipment must be on hand to ensure equipment compliance.
What Needs to be Sanitized
Each establishment strives to maintain a clean environment but cleaning and sanitizing are actually two separate activities. Cleaning removes debris such as food particles, grime & grease but sanitizing is the process of taking a clean item and reducing the level of microorganisms to a safe level.
When to Sanitize
How often to sanitize is an important component of an establishment's food safety plan. Some items may need sanitation on a constant per use basis whereas other equipment might need sanitizing on a daily, weekly, monthly or even quarterly basis.
Factors Affecting Chemical Sanitization
There are certain conditions that can reduce the effectiveness of the sanitization process. Some sanitization chemicals will kill any type of microorganism whereas others are more selective in which microorganisms they can kill. Food establishments should read the manufacturer's label for the appropriate solution.
Sanitization Tools for Food Handlers
There are a variety of sanitization tools available to food handlers including chemical concentration test papers and strips, alcohol wipes, thermal labels and thermometers. Some examples of test papers, strips and include:
Faster, Cheaper Sequencing Transforms Microbial Food Safety Testing
Implementation of rapid whole-genome sequencing could help transform microbial risk surveillance across the food industry from a surveillance approach to a more preventive approach; one in which we can identify outbreak indicators to predict, and take steps to prevent, a problem before it even occurs.
A Silver Lining of the Pandemic: Whole-Genome Sequencing and Food Safety
Whole-genome sequencing has become a significant tool in investigating foodborne disease outbreaks. We examined the current use of this technology for foodborne disease surveillance and food monitoring at the global level and sought to understand the factors limiting its use in developing countries.
Whole-Genome Sequencing for Food Safety
Just what is whole-genome sequencing, and how can it be used to improve food safety?
Food Safety Testing Continues to Increase
In a continuation of this topic from April/May, we dig deeper into current microbiology sample collection and analysis practices of food processors around the world and their future plans.
A Bacterial Virus Helps Spread Salmonella
A toxin-carrying virus is involved in the emergence of a new strain of Salmonella in pigs.
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: Presumption of Positivity and the Presumed Problem of Nonconfirmable Presumptives in Food Pathogen Diagnostics
The rate of nonconfirmable presumptives in food pathogen diagnostics has increased significantly in recent years. We explore the reasons why in this article.
Back-to-Back Outbreaks in Frozen and Dried Imported Coconut
Here we explore foodborne illness outbreak investigations related to coconuts, highlight the challenges experienced, and share the food safety lessons learned.
How essential is research into environmental and food monitoring?
Without this research, we are not able to determine whether our environment is clean, safe and stable.
What is the main message of the research you are presenting at Pittcon, titled ‘The Future of Environmental and Food Monitoring’?
The main message of my talk is that there is an ever-increasing demand for the ability to detect on-site, in-field and as a ‘point-of-need’ application. This demand exists in food safety testing, sustainable agriculture, and ensuring that an environment is clean and safe.
What are some applications you envision for biosensor detection and monitoring technology?
We are typically looking for pathogenic organisms that are present in the environment or in food. In terms of analytes, we look for a pathogen either based on the pathogen itself being present, based on a specific toxin it produces or the nucleic acid that is contained within.
What are some techniques used to monitor the environment and food?
Some of these are lab-based techniques, such as mass spectrometry, GC, HPLC and chromatography, while some are technologies that can also be used on-site.
How does Pittcon influence the realm of environment and food science?
Pittcon has grown over the years to incorporate analytical chemistry technologies for environmental monitoring and food safety.
Why are events like Pittcon important – now more than ever for the scientific community?
In order to solve the complex problems our society faces, we need to address these from multiple points of view and bring together experts from many different areas because one field alone could not do this.
What is the difference between a biosensor and a chemosensor?
A biosensor contains a biological recognition element, and a chemosensor contains a chemical recognition element. Both have different specificities, but both of these devices are used in environmental monitoring and food safety.
Do I need an environmental monitoring program in my food facility?
GFSI-aligned 3rd party audits typically require environmental monitoring programs to be in place for producers of ready-to-eat food that are exposed to the environment post-kill step.
What does an environmental monitoring program actually consist of?
Environmental monitoring program typically includes the following components:
How often should I conduct environmental monitoring?
The frequency of environmental monitoring is determined by your process and the hazards you identified in your hazard analysis.
What happens if a pathogen is discovered in the test result?
Depending on the type of result received, this may include re-cleaning, re-testing, holding product, and possibly a product recall. Check out This article to learn about hygienic zoning in an EMP and developing corrective actions
What is the purpose of swabbing surfaces for pathogens?
The goal is to determine whether any pathogens (e.g. listeria, salmonella) are living in facility and to respond accordingly if a positive result is found.
What is ATP testing?
Another form of environmental monitoring is ATP Testing — a type of test that can be performed immediately onsite and will demonstrate the efficiency of your sanitation activities.
What does testing a product do?
While testing the product itself can may inform you about the safety of that sample, testing the facility verifies that your cleaning activities are working and that each batch is being produced in a pathogen-free environment.
Chemical Methods Resources
Microbiological and Biological Methods Resources
- FDA Foods Program Compendium of Analytical Laboratory Methods: Microbiological Methods
The FDA Foods Program Compendium of microbiological methods includes the Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) and methods validated under the FDA Foods Program’s Guidelines for Validation of Analytical Methods for the Detection of Microbial Pathogens in Foods and Feedsb… - Other FDA Microbiological Methods of Interest
There are other microbiological methods of importance to the FDA. They are either methods in use but not yet validated at the multi-laboratory level, or they have been specifically cited in rules or guidance.
Macroanalytical Methods Resources
- Macroanalytical Procedures Manual (MPM) The Macroanalytical Procedures Manual contains standardized methods of macroscopic analysis which are useful in determining defects in various types of foods. Food Defect Action Levels Handbook The Food Defect Action Levels Handbook lists the levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for hum…
FDA Foods Program Method Validation Guidelines
- All methods developed for the FDA Foods Program are validated according to established guidelines and appendices to those guidelines, as defined by the Method Development, Validation, and Implementation Program (MDVIP). A description of the goals of the MDVIP, and guidelines for the validation of chemical, microbiological, and DNA-basedmethods are included. Guidance for t…
FDA Laboratory Quality Management Manuals
- CFSAN Laboratory Quality Assurance Manual The CFSAN Laboratory Quality Assurance Manual (LQM), 4th Edition (2019) contains the policies and instructions related to laboratory quality assurance in CFSAN. The manual is a central resource for understanding CFSAN's quality system and provides guidance on quality concepts, principles, and practices. ORA Laboratory Manual Th…